Designing the learning environment

In a distance learning course, the Moodle course interface is equivalent to the physical classroom. It provides access to all the course resources and activities that will take place. For both participants and teachers, it is the home for the course.

Interface Elements

What elements are needed? Easy access to traditional syllabus elements are required, such as:

• • The course structure and schedule
  • Course goals
  • Due dates for assignments
  • Instructions for the course and its activities

Other elements include the resources and tools for learning activities:

• • The course resources (readings, videos, cases/examples/demonstrations, etc.)
  • Ways to communicate
  • Tools and activities for interaction
  • Ways for participants to track their progress and receive feedback

Interface Design

The challenge is to make all these available in a way that is logical, intuitive, and quickly accessible. In addition to the Sections that structure the course content (1.1.2), the use of Blocks can simplify navigation (1.1.3) and provide access to important information (1.2.1 and 1.2.2). Strategic use of Labels (1.1.4) is also important to guide learners. 

Interface design can be a matter of taste to some degree, but several critical principles guide the design of an interface:

• simplicity
  • e.g., reducing the interface to only the necessary elements, making content collapsible and expandable (using levels)
• clarity
  • e.g., making it logically organized and well-described with labels
• consistency
  • e.g., using the same format for repeated features, limiting the variety of fonts and graphical elements
• aesthetic appeal
  • e.g., using appealing colors and graphical elements, choosing engaging metaphors, providing a clear path to completion, using an encouraging but challenging tone in messages
• ease of use
  • e.g., making everything accessible in only 2-3 clicks if possible, making links and buttons obvious, providing a clear path to the home page

Creating an interface that will appeal to all users is difficult, because individual motivation and experience is a key element in usability. But attention to the principles will help to make an effective Moodle course interface that all learners can work with.