Creating a "Quiet" Online Space
Have you ever tried to navigate through three to four websites in search of something? Maybe a specific product or piece of information that needs confirmation. When you are going through this process of navigation, how many roadblocks do you hit? These could include broken web pages, advertisements that refuse to leave your screen or provide a “close button”, or the website itself is not well organized. In most cases, I am sure most, if not all of us, have experienced these roadblocks. Whenever we go online, we are bombarded with additional information and distractions. It can be hard to bloat out the “noise”.
This is important to remember whenever we, as instructional designers or course facilitators, bring external resources into a course. External sources can be great for fostering more learner engagement and bringing new knowledge to a course, but they do come with some caveats. These can include:
- Difficulty navigating the external resource – The design and layout of an external resource are usually beyond the control of the instructional designer, which means the learner could be at the mercy of how effectively the key information is delivered to them. Additionally, most websites contain some type of advertisement or cookies, which can lead to poor performance by a computer on certain websites. This can be both frustrating and anxiety-inducing for the learners.
- Possible breaks/updates – How often the external resource is updated or what the overall life expectancy of the external resource is not controlled by the instructional designer. This could lead to learners losing access to the resource or the ability to effectively engage with the key information in the external resource. Again, more frustration and anxiety for the learner(s).
- Building Failures – As instructional designers, we are all human and we all make mistakes. This includes incorrectly linking out to the incorrect external resource. The learner could be sent to the wrong website or nothing at all. Either way, this type of mistake can serve as a distraction or cause some anxiety for the learner.
All these caveats can lead to a bad learner experience that could disrupt the learning process. The more often content, key information, exercises, and assessments are kept in Brightspace the stronger the learning experience can be because there are fewer disruptions and distractions in learning. Learners can move through the content, engage in different activities and assessments, use different tools, and communicate with their fellow learners and teachers in a “quiet” place with less noise or distractions. Creator + and the various HTML templates D2L offers are exceptional tools to help create an engaging learning experience that can deliver key information and content without relying on external resources.
Learners will always have access to the internet, but their learning can take place in a specific place and on a specific path. Every step they take in this path can be designed and developed very specifically to the learner’s needs. Brightspace is at its best when learners work through the content there and use all the tools it offers.
As a course is being developed it is important to consider the value of an external resource versus the pitfalls or roadblocks a learner might run into if they try an access the resource or resources. There are phenomenal resources available for every subject a learner could wish to engage with. As an instructional designer, it is crucial to find a balance between using effective and engaging external resources and ensuring the learner has a “quiet” place to learn.
References
Andrea Piacquadio. (2020, February 25). Young annoyed female freelancer using laptop at home. Pexels.com. https://www.pexels.com/photo/young-annoyed-female-freelancer-using-laptop-at-home-3808008/