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Photo by Dil on Unsplash

Have you ever struggled to open the door, not being quite sure whether to push or pull? This source of daily mini-frustration received the name of the “Norman Door”, denoting more widely the objects that are non-intuitive to the point that special sign or instruction is needed to clarify its use. The term gets its name from Don Norman, researcher at The Design Lab at University of California, San Diego, and his most famous book “The Design of Everyday Things” published for the first time in 1988. In the book, Norman argues, that design should amplify communication between the users and the objects they are using, by relying on the so-called “affordances”, that is, features that intuitively point you to their right use.

The first week of the ONL191 course focused majorly on the potential users of the open learning technologies. It asked the questions on how teachers in such environments can find their way of operating, using a number of digital tools, and help people move from, what David White from the University of Oxford described as “Visitor” presence to more residential approach, bringing more engagement and confidence into the learning process.

Because of that approach to the subject, we were heavily user-oriented, which is extremely important in the environments that are primarily user-based. And yet, I had a feeling, that we have lacked one specific dimension – user-oriented design. Open Learning Platforms, even today, are rarely intuitive, which proves to be quite frustrating for their users, especially those, who are less digitally agile. The residential mode of operating in the digital environment is not only about confidence, but also about easiness. The number one thing, then, when it comes to the choice of platform, or even building it, is to make sure that it makes it easy for both teachers and students, to use it. This is where the order of communication and rules of good UX/UI could be further investigated, providing the future Open Networked Learning teachers with a good idea on how to introduce them in their preparations. Internet is full of them, and yet academics rarely look in that direction, thinking that design is something out of their capacities and interest.

A key term in that subject was digital literacy, and I think the metaphor of literacy, understood as ability of reading, is extremely helpful in understanding the point I am trying to make. Someone may  be a great reader, and yet, it will be hard, even painful, for him to read a text, that will be badly formatted, with very long lines, ugly and small font, small margins and lack of space between the rows. For those, who are just starting their reading adventure, it will be enormously demotivating. In promoting literacy, then, design should not be an afterthought.

Designing Online Courses