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Author's Comments |
I set out to design this site for teachers to use to help them create their own web-based educational activities, and/or evaluate existing web-based educational activities they are considering using in their classrooms.
Most web usability suggestions include having navigation to most anywhere in the site available on almost all pages. In an educational activity, I don't believe this is necessarily a good thing to do. On news and e-commerce sites, it is good to have the user be able to bounce around wherever they want to go with minimal obstruction to their navigation. However, a teacher would not want their students to just bounce around in a lesson; the students more-or-less need to be kept on a path of the teacher's choosing.
Hence, I have designed the navigation in this site so that each section is unto itself, without navigation from one section directly into another. In order to get to another section, the user must return to the home page, or site map, to navigate there. Every page, except those in Section 3, have a link back to the home page either through a text hyperlink, or through the site id graphic at the top. Section 3 opens in a new window, so the user can always get directly back into the main portion of the site. My reasons for using frames in Section 3 are explained there.
I kept use of graphics to a minimum to help speed download time, and, echoing Jakob Nielsen's comments on his use of graphics on his site, www.useit.com, I am not a graphic designer, and my goal is to present information, not fancy graphics.
Every link outside of this site opens in a new window, so the user never actually leaves this site; the user nevertheless can view examples and do their own usability exercises in Section 2.
I attempted to provide an overview of the major usability considerations that teachers will want to keep in mind when designing/using web based educational activities; there are no doubt many more that are pertinent. There is a large volume of information on web usability, as provided in the Further Reading section, and teachers should not rely solely on this site. What is here is merely the tip of the web usability iceberg.
I hope that you gain some insight into web usability through this site. If you have any comments or suggestions on how this site could be made even better, I'd love to receive them. Please email me at bbenton@frontiernet.net.
Thank You!