A recent submission to my elearning course.
ELearning designers are more and more frequently using a minimalist approach to their courses. From a technological viewpoint:
“…limited bandwidth has a direct impact on the sophistication of technology that
courses can use. Niceties such as audio, video, animation, simulations, and
games eat up more bandwidth, may require plug-ins or Java applets on the
desktop, and can run afoul of firewalls.”[i]
Minimalist designers see the complexity of elaborate technology design as more of a hindrance to learning rather then an enabler.
“Complexity adds costs, distracts employee learners and creates technological
problems that eat up valuable time to solve.”[ii]
With all the exciting options that are available to designers, we often can get quite carried away with our own intrigue into utilizing all the latest and greatest applications. However, Molly Hazschlag makes a wonderful point that our lesson designs should go way beyond just graphics.
“I’m convinced that the best designs use only graphics that are absolutely
necessary. If you limit your use of graphics, the ones you do use will grab much
more attention, especially if they’re well planned and well placed.”[iii]
[i] Lisa Terry, Tech Barriers to E-learning http://www.upside.com/texis/mvm/story?id=38e163780, July 18, 2001.
[ii] Digital University, Inc. staff. Minimalists May Be Winning E-learning Design Arguments http://www.cuesu.org/enews/0108minimal.html August, 2001
[iii] Molly E. Holzschlag Clean Up, Flatten Out http://molly.com/articles/webthoughts/2001-08-cleanup.php , August 2001.