By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Jakob Nielsen: Top Ten Web Design Mistakes of 2005, Alertbox October 4, 2005
Jakob Nielsen is back with his annual list of common errors in web design and this year the usability specialist has a solid line-up. Personally, I think my own site fares pretty well (especially after my having spent the last week on number five). But I want especially to direct this list to the designers of SchoolPlaza, which commits every error on Nielsen's list. More...
For every pilot flying an aircraft today, there is an instructor who made it happen. Teaching someone to fly an aircraft involves multiple layers of skill and ability, psychological intuition, courage, and logic. Online course design can benefit from what we have learned about teaching someone to fly. More...
New thinking in campus redesign about flexible learning and collaborative campus spaces, as well as smart re-use of space, is helping institutions become flexible and remain change-ready, effectively creating more efficient teaching and better, more cost-effective, long-range development planning. More...
By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Jared Spool: Consistency in Design is the Wrong Approach, September 16, 2005
This is the key point: "When you think about consistency, you’re thinking about the product. When you’re thinking about current knowledge, you’re thinking about the user. They are two sides of the same coin. We’ve just noticed that the designers who spend more time thinking about the users are the ones that end up with more usable designs." A point with which, in the main, I agree. More...
By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Richard MacManus and Joshua Porter: Web 2.0 for Designers, Digital Web Magazine September 15, 2005
"In Web 1.0," writes the author, "a small number of writers created Web pages for a large number of readers." Enter Web 2.0, however, and this equation changes, "a vision of the Web in which information is broken up into “microcontent” units that can be distributed over dozens of domains. More...
By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Marc Rettig and Aradhana Goel: Designing for Experience: Frameworks and Project Stories September 14, 2005
Maish writes, "This presentation made by Marc Retting and Aradhana Goel is one of the finest examples of using down-to-earth methods and practices to create engaging user experiences." My view is that Maish's description is actually an understatement; you will want to linger over and savour this presentation. More...
By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. More About Designing for the Long Tail
Michael Feldstein offers a couple of posts that reflect exactly the issue I am working with as I try to compose my talk at SAC tomorrow. "We need a system that is optimized toward slotting in new pieces as they become available, not as an after-thought or an add-on, but as a fundamental characteristic of the system." Yes, yes, but what does that mean. More...
By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Wolfgang Greller: Managing IMS Learning Design, JIME September 26, 2005
Most interesting to me was the section on the 'knowledge refinery'. The author contrasts "school sectors, the open and distance learning sector, as well as the commercial and military training sectors" where learning "follow mostly an industrial-style delivery model which almost exclusively passes on tertiary knowledge in a predefined way" with the university sector. More...
By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Adriana J. Berlanga and Francisco J. García: IMS LD Reusable Elements for Adaptive Learning Designs, JIME September 26, 2005
Interesting approach to learning design with is perhaps a little more subversive than is apparent at first glance. Seeking to develop an adaptive learning system, the authors "move from 'manifest-centred' schema, which forces static adaptivity, to a 'server-centred' approach". More...
By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Anders Berggren, et.al.: Practical and Pedagogical Issues for Teacher Adoption Practical and Pedagogical Issues for Teacher Adoption of IMS Learning Design Standards in Moodle LMS, JIME September 26, 2005
The authors compare Learning Design and Moodle, asking what it would take for the two systems to interoperate. Of especial interest is the section on bricolage, " the ease with which course materials can be developed and refined in an iterative fashion". More...
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