The Design of Electronic Educational Environments: Issues and Principles in Human/Computer Interaction Kent L. Norman Department of Psychology Laboratory for Automation Psychology and Decision Processes Human/Computer Interaction Lab 2nd International Congress on Interface Design and HCI Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

HCI Laboratories

LAPDP

User Interfaces With the increasing complexity and proliferation of computer and Internet systems in the 21st Century, there is increasing need for excellent interface design and the application of principles of human/computer interaction.

Levels of the User Interface User interfaces and human/computer interaction are parts of larger systems. One needs to consider the high level goals of the system (purpose, reasons for use) as well as the specific details (screen design, input, error messages) One needs to consider the types of users and classes of users.

Case Study: Educational Systems There are many systems that one could talk about as examples: Satellite command and control systems (General Electric, National Aeronautics and Space Administration) Information retrieval systems (National Institutes of Health) Digital libraries (Library of Congress) On-line surveys (National Center for Health Statistics, United States Census) On-line Educational Systems

Trends

e-Goals To provide a more interactive learning experience than is generally possible in the traditional classroom. To provide interactive and hypermedia technologies during both in and out of the classroom. To transcend the barriers of time, distance, and cost.

e-Goals To increase student-to-student and student- to-teacher interaction and collaboration. To provide students with an integrated learning environment with access to hypermedia databases, telecommunications, and simulations.

e-Themes Interactivity, to involve the student actively in the learning process. Enrichment of the educational environment. Course management: organization of content material, record keeping, processing of assignments.

Products in e-Learning

Theory: Interactions and Spaces

Electronic Classrooms Networked computers for the students and instructor Shared displays Interactive software Since 1990 we have been working with the design of electronic classrooms at the University of Maryland.

Schematic of an Electronic Classroom

AT&T Teaching Theater

Newest Teaching Theater

Teaching Theater

Technical Support All Teaching Theaters have technician on hand at all times.

In Classroom and Out of Classroom Electronic Classroom Synchronous Distance Education Same Time Same Place Different Place Different Time Laboratory Asynchronous Distance Education Each quadrant can be supported by the WWW.

Distance Education at its worst When teachers tele-computer.

Functions Supported by Computers

Input-Ability

Display-Ability

Store-Ability

Search-Ability Electronic materials can be searched in many ways. Whole courses can be searched by subject, date, student, grade, assignment, etc.

Searching Databases

Copy-Ability Students can copy notes Instructors can copy course materials

Access-Ability Course materials can be accessed anywhere, anytime. But only by authorized users.

Functions Supported by Compuers

Link-Ability Hypertext links can be embedded to link to other material within the course material or outside the course. Links can carry information with then.

Manipulate-Ability, etc. Pages with JavaScript, Flash, Shockwave, and Java Applets provide abilities to work with the material, perform computations, and run simulations.

Simulations

Interaction Functions

Communicate-Ability Discussions

View and Conference-Ability Video conferencing

Mitigating Forces There is an unbelievable proliferation of incompatible and inconsistent packages. Applications are not inter-linked. There has been a lack of a systems approach. Educators have had unrealistic expectations about the benefits of computers in learning.

Too many buttons!

Lack of Concern for HCI Design seems intuitive and obvious so it is not questioned or improved. Navigation is not a priority so it just strung together. Task analysis of flow of control is ignored.

Problems with the User Interface Gentlemen, the “ON” switch is over here.

Design Issues Good flow of control Clear navigation Use of direct manipulation Good screen layout Good feedback Effective use of graphics, color, and audio

HyperCourseware

Functionality Adequate capacity Appropriate complexity Has full text editing functionality Undo and backup features Good ability to present multimedia Good reliability Maintainability, up-gradability and extensible

Educational Merit Reasonable model of instruction Clear learning objectives Effective reinforcement To the point Good record keeping User Accommodation

Use of Metaphor Make use of familiar objects, concepts and images. Provide a clear mapping from the base knowledge to the target domain. Extend the metaphor to include to new functionality.

Course Syllabus

Navigation

Readings On-line

Hypermedia

Class Interaction

Student Contact

Instructor Contact

Student Projects

Team Projects

HCI Principles Easy to learn, easy to use, and operates in an obvious way. Integrated, appears seamless, and requires a minimum number of steps to perform any desired function. Reduce the cognitive load of students and instructors rather than increases it. Reduce the difficulty of instructors generating and using material to bring to the course and of students copying and using materials to take from the course. Promotes active interaction with course materials and collaboration among the students and the instructor.

Future Electronic educational materials (e.g., e- books, e-journals, e-libraries), Bandwidth of communications, Infrastructure of the whole system, The number and expertise of users will increase over the next decade.

Teaching in the Switched On Classroom

Future More and more students will have access to electronic forms of education around the world and the potential for sharing and collaboration will be enormous. Systems will become more robust and reliable and networks and operating systems will achieve a greater inter-operability. Students and teachers will expect more.

Users/Students

Credits Support from AT&T Corporation and the Center Teaching Excellence, UMCP Thanks to students, Leslie Carter and Diane Alonso, Mike Kovac

References Boehm-Davis, D. A., Norman, K. L., Sebrechts, M. M., & Silverman, B. G., (1996). Using technology to team teach across institutions: The Circle Project. Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Annual Meeting. Philadelphia, PA. Norman, K. L. (1997). Teaching in the switched-on classroom: An introduction to electronic education and HyperCourseware. College Park, MD: Laboratory for Automation Psychology. ( Norman, K. L. (2000). Desktop distance education: Personal hosting of Web courses. In A. Aggarwal (Ed.). Web based learning and teaching technologies: Opportunities and challenges. Ideal Press. Norman, K. L. (2001). Collaborative interactions in support of learning. In R. R. Hazemi & S, Hailes (Ed.) The Digital University: Building Learning Communities. Shneiderman, B., Alavi, M., Norman, K., & Borkowski, E. (1995). Windows of opportunities in electronic classrooms, Communications of the ACM, 38,