Webliography: Who’s in Control? Guidelines for e-Learning Navigation

The purpose of this blog entry is to discuss some of the key concepts found in chapter 13 of the book, E-learning and the Science of Instruction: Proven Guidelines for Consumers and Designers of Multimedia Learning, by Clark & Mayer (2008).

When designing elearning courses or lessons, is it better to allow learners to have control over their progression through the lesson or should learners be more directly guided through the lesson ensuring information is not missed or skipped? Clark & Mayer (2008) refer to two types of control: learner control and program control. Learner control is common to the online asynchronous environment. Most people that use the Internet are accustomed to learner control models. There are menus and links on nearly every Web page that allow you choose your own path through the content. Likewise, course management systems such as Blackboard and Moodle often have courses that allow for non-linear progression through the material.

Program control is commonly seen in classroom and synchronous e-learning. There is generally an established, linear progression that is often led by an instructor. Clark & Mayer (2008) found that learner control can have negative effects for learners with low prior knowledge in the material they are studying and with low metacognitive skill. For these novice learners, a program control model in elearning is preferred – at least at the beginning of lessons in any given course.

This chapter challenged me to consider the importance of learner control in online learning. As a Web designer, I generally like to give as many navigation options and controls as possible to give users freedom. I know that I personally get annoyed when I find myself in the middle of a video or website with no controls. In elearning, the truth is, however, that there are times when users should be limited to a linear progression. Learners that have options to skip information or jump ahead to other sections are often not qualified to know the progression that is most conducive to their learning. Those with low metacognition are the biggest offenders. Meaningful examples and case studies are commonly skipped, which has been shown to have a negative effect on overall learning (Clark & Mayer, 2008).

In a course I am currently developing, I am applying the principles found in this chapter. The course follows a linear progression because most of the concepts are new to learners and they will need the content in a linear fashion. The menu leads to key sections in the course, but it is not fragmented so much that learners would miss key concepts. I have learned that even in courses that allow for high learner control, it is best to make case studies and examples a default option whenever possible. Make it necessary for learners to choose not to read or participate in an example as opposed to leaving examples as options that are easily avoided. This will help increase the chance that learners will, indeed, complete examples and, in turn, better maximize learning.


Reference
Clark, R.C., & Mayer, R. E. (2008). E-learning and the science of instruction: Proven guidelines for consumers and designers of multimedia learning (2nd.ed.). San Francisco, CA: Wiley & Sons.