Multimedia Design Best Practices

"Job Aid" USABILITY: **Learning application fulfills Nielsen's 5-fold "quality components" (Nielsen, "Usability 101"): Learnability, Efficiency, Memorability, Satisfaction, and "Error" components Application is easy for a first-time user to learn. The user can intuit what the application can "do" and can readily manipulate the interface to accomplish the "tasks" that the user would have it do. The application allows the user to perform these "tasks" in a timely fashion. Though multimedia applications are "ephemeral" in nature, a learning application should be "memorable". If a user was able to understand the app's interface initially, he should hopefully be able to readily remember how to use it if he were to return to the app at a later date. The design of the app is an enjoyable experience for the user/learner. User errors encountered during the app should be minimal and should not be disabling or overly frustrating to the user. Ideally, errors should not be "senseless"; rather, they should

serve to give the user a better sense of the proper use of the app. ("Usability 101") **Also, "utility" - does the app "do" what the learner wishes/needs to do with it? - this is no small point. In an educational context, the applications should be geared towards certain specific, important learning objectives. These should be communicated and imparted to the learner through the use of the elearning app. Usability and utility are vital to the overall experience of learning. The word "experience" comes from the Latin for "out of trials" (ex-, out of & peri, trials). Out of trials comes experience; however, such "trials" should not be "trials by fire", nor should be people get "burned" on an application. Learning multimedia applications employ numerous forms of media for the purposes of facilitating learning and empowering the end user. The tools should be intuitive and useful. ===

NAVIGATION AND LEARNER CONTROLS: (Nielsen/Norman report, unless otherwise indicated)