Designing E-Learning Courses Using Web Design Elements

Being new to Instructional Design, I have noticed a number of parallels between designing e-learning courses, and designing a functioning and user friendly website.

There are elements of a web page that are important to keep the attention of your audience, help them find what they are looking for, draw their eye to certain areas, and assist them in navigating the site. When a reader first lands on your website, you want the color scheme to be easy on the eye. Instead of using flashing graphics, bright colors contrasting on dark colors, and other techniques that make images or text "stand out", use a color scheme that blends together well. This will not "shock" the reader, overwhelm them, or confuse them, allowing them to look around the page freely.

The same holds true for an e-learning course. It is extremely valuable to use a color scheme that causes the elements of each slide to compliment each other, and provide consistency across the course. Just like on a website, once a color scheme is decided upon, those colors can be used for the different elements including accent boxes, links, imagery, borders, and shapes. Additionally, the course navigation/container should also adhere to this color scheme, not only to match, but to reinforce.

Aside from colors on a website, layout and composition are extremely important. The placement of the navigation, images, text, etc will determine how you reader absorbs the information, and how they will navigate the site. The text should be a size that fits well on the page, but is not too large or small. It should be easy to read, but not too large that it distorts the overall view. Any use of images on the site should also be done in good taste. Use images that are easy to distinguish, do not have colors that clash with the rest of the page, or are too large to fit in an appropriate location.

In e-learning, we need to utilize the limited space we have by creating imagery and text that enhances and accentuates the content. By finding the right balance between images, text and white space, you can draw the eye towards certain elements that in turn allow the ear to pick out and retain information. Having too many images on the screen can confuse and muddle, while having too little can cause the audience to get lost in the audio.

The most important element to design is consistency. On a website, consistency between pages is critical. If the layout is completely different on each page of a site, it will take the reader extra time to navigate back or forward from where they are. That time could cause them to lose their interest. Personally, a website that is poorly laid out and disorganized will quickly have me looking elsewhere for the information. A well designed website will have a consistent color scheme between pages, a navigation bar that remains in the same location on each page (can be a row of links, or images), and a somewhat consistent content layout.

The same is true for an e-learning course. Consistency between slides is critical, even small details such as the location of a text box. If it is a pixel off from the slide prior, it will appear to have "jumped", inadvertently grabbing the attention of the audience. The location of titles, the size and color of the text, and the way objects transition onto the screen are all elements that create consistency for your course, or when used poorly, create distractions.

One of the greatest benefits of having the internet so widely used and accepted in today's world, is the universal acceptance of certain standards. Anyone that uses a computer is familiar with a link, how to click on it, and what will likely happen when they do. This one small detail has allowed for innovative uses of links for many non-web based documents. People now know how to identify links, even if they are not the standard blue color (allowing us to integrate our color scheme). This can be used in any e-learning course that requires supporting documentation be included as an attachment. The Instructional Designer can use this format, and know that the audience will be familiar with it, and know what to do. We are now much more efficient and effective than we were in the days of "refer to appendix A".

Being new to Instructional Design, I have taken what I have learned in web design and applied it directly to designing e-learning courses. The audience is also able to take what they have learned from the internet, and use those same skills to navigate through the course. In a way, a language barrier has been jumped, as we are able to view one or the other with the same elements and in the same way. These elements that create a well-designed and functioning website can thus be used to create an e-learning course that increases comprehension and improves retention.