“Several of my professors put their assignments under this left column menu, but for another course I have to remember that the assignments are named differently and located under the top row pull-down menu taking multiple clicks to access. Why do I have to remember different paths to find the basics that I need to complete this course?”
Hill, P. (2019). Student Panels: Non-traditional students and consistency in course navigation.
Wayfinding, Finding Your Way, Wayfinding, Wayfinding
“Organization is one of the most important parts of an online course, and complicated course layout and poor navigation links contribute directly to learner confusion and a poor learning experience overall.” (Bristol and Zerwekh, 2011 in OLC)
- Materials and activities are easy to locate and engage with. Navigation and wayfinding are clear.
- Types of information and activities, as well as flow, is consistent throughout.
- Styling of resources and materials are internally consistent and consistent with one another.
Layout and Structure
- White-space and cutting out unnecessary information
- Contrast
- Typeface and Font
- From Titles to Tables
Open up one of your online courses, a document you share with students, or a PowerPoint you use in class,
- Read through the content in your course and take notice of where you think there should be more breaks.
- Step back from your screen and look at your course pages. Squint your eyes and see if there is enough white space around the content.
- Do a working memory check and read through your content. Note how much you can remember, and what did not stick.
- Where have you used coloured text? Is it distracting? Is the contrast high enough?
- Be consistent. If you change the colour of a heading, for example, be sure to reflect that in other headings in your course.
- Avoid using multiple coloured text on one page, unless you intentionally want to highlight something.
Accessibility
Photo by Mitchell Luo on Unsplash
Detailed Sitemap (IA) flickr photo by kentbye shared under a Creative Commons (BY) license
Lorenzetti, J. P. (2008). 14 Ways Faculty Can Improve Online Student Retention. Recruitment & Retention in Higher Education, 22(12), 6-7.