Assessing the usability of online instructional materials

Although cognitive and educational psychologists have studied learning for decades, establishing just how moving conventional instruction on-line improves or detracts from learning continues to be hotly debated. And along with the fundamental challenge of defining learning and how we implement Web-based instruction (WBI), we also need to pay attention to the interface challenges posed by these evolving domains (Rappin, Guzdial, Realff, and Ludovice, 1997). Research on user-centered design, usability, and human-computer interaction can provide instructors with numerous informal but powerful methods to help them design WBI that is functional and supports the range of activities that users are expected to perform and is aesthetically pleasing and supports user expectations, scanning, search, and reading goals.

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