Sharon Plante talks about her experiences integrating technology in special education and her role as a technology director. Follow Sharon http://twitter.com/iplante This episode of House of #EdTech is brought to you by TodaysMeet. Visit http://www.todaysmeet.com/houseofedtech House of #EdTech is sponsored by Audible.com. There are over 150,000 titles to choose from for your iPhone, Android, Kindle or other mp3 player. http://www.audibletrial.com/houseofedtech All Links and shownotes at http://www.chrisnesi.com/2015/01/edtech-and-special-education-with.html FEEDBACK Call: (732) 903-4869 Voxer: cnesi4602 Email: feedback@chrisnesi.com Twitter: http://twitter.com/mrnesi Send a voice message from http://www.chrisnesi.com

For all of you who are as fascinated by the Apple-Adobe Flash standoff as I am, here are some links to some of my personal favorite blog posts and articles capturing the highlights of the situation. As a certain CEO...

I believe I need a sign like this for my playground K4STEMLAB classroom: Image credit: niallkennedy on Flickr Just sayin’.

Tom Murray, State and District Digital Learning Director for Alliance for Excellent Education, explains what the Future Ready initiative is and what is means to be Future Ready. Follow Tom http://twitter.com/thomascmurray This episode of House of #EdTech is brought to you by TodaysMeet. Visit http://www.todaysmeet.com/houseofedtech House of #EdTech is sponsored by Audible.com. There are over 150,000 titles to choose from for your iPhone, Android, Kindle or other mp3 player. http://www.audibletrial.com/houseofedtech   All links and shownotes at http://www.chrisnesi.com/2015/01/futureready-with-tom-murray.html   FEEDBACK Call: (732) 903-4869 Voxer: cnesi4602 Email: feedback@chrisnesi.com Twitter: http://twitter.com/mrnesi Send a voice message from http://www.chrisnesi.com

Courtney Kofeldt is the Technology Coordinator and a Teacher at the Pennsylvania Leadership Charter School which is completely on-line. She shares tools and resources that are valuable to an on-line school and you can find value in as well.   Follow Courtney http://twitter.com/Ms_Kof   This episode of House of #EdTech is brought to you by TodaysMeet. Visit http://www.todaysmeet.com/houseofedtech   House of #EdTech is sponsored by Audible.com. There are over 150,000 titles to choose from for your iPhone, Android, Kindle or other mp3 player. http://www.audibletrial.com/houseofedtech   All links and shownotes at http://www.chrisnesi.com/2015/02/cyber-education-interview-with-courtney-kofeldt.html   FEEDBACK Call: (732) 903-4869 Voxer: cnesi4602 Email: feedback@chrisnesi.com Twitter: http://twitter.com/mrnesi Send a voice message from http://www.chrisnesi.com

Stacey Lindes is a former first grade teacher who now works as a Teacher Resource Specialist for Technology for West-Windsor Plainsboro Public Schools (NJ). Follow Stacey http://twitter.com/iruntech   This episode of House of #EdTech is brought to you by TodaysMeet. Visit http://www.todaysmeet.com/houseofedtech House of #EdTech is sponsored by Audible.com. There are over 150,000 titles to choose from for your iPhone, Android, Kindle or other mp3 player. http://www.audibletrial.com/houseofedtech   All links and shownotes at http://www.chrisnesi.com/2015/02/11-programs-with-specialist-stacey-lindes-hoet030.html   FEEDBACK Call: (732) 903-4869 Voxer: cnesi4602 Email: feedback@chrisnesi.com Twitter: http://twitter.com/mrnesi Send a voice message from http://www.chrisnesi.com

The computer user interface is that nebulous space where humans interact with the machine. Many people find this space frustrating because it’s easy to get lost or because the system doesn’t work as expected. As designers and developers, we can make sure our audiences have smooth interactions with our courses. After all, good user interface design is an essential part of eLearning. It can influence a user’s perception of an entire learning event. So here are some basic rules for user interface design from the audience’s perspective. "I don’t want to think about the user interface." Make the user interface transparent to your audience. It shouldn’t be noticed. It shouldn’t be something people have to learn or decipher. If everything is clean and clear, then learners can get on with the task of learning and not have to think about how to interact. As Jakob Neilson, usability expert states, "Users don’t care about design for its own sake; they just want to get things done and get out. Normal people don’t love sitting at their computers. They’d rather watch football, walk the dog — just about anything else. Using a computer probably rates above taking out the trash, though." "I always want to know what to do next." Include instructions on every screen. If there are options, explain all of them clearly. Your audience should never—not even for a second—be wondering what to do next. Writing concise and clear screen instructions is a difficult task. After writing and revising several times, run your instructions by grouchy people to see if they complain about them. One more thing. Go revise those instructions one more time. The overly-simplified example below shows how you can strive to make your screen instructions ever more clear. The text on the left is unnecessarily long and mentions Next, which is not labeled. The shorter instructions on the right probably suffice and we avoid potential confusion about what to click to continue. "I want the program to act like I think it should." Everyone who is familiar with computer applications holds a mental model of how different types of software work. In eLearning, we can get quite creative with these models. Perhaps the user interface is a smart phone or a DVD player or a store front or an elevator panel. Or perhaps it’s a plain vanilla Previous and Next type of system. Whether your course uses a metaphor or a generic approach, follow logical and obvious conventions. Think about how audience members will expect the system to work and then make sure it does. In the example below, the user interface is an elevator panel. Learners choose a floor on the panel, ride up to the selected floor and partake in learning activities on each floor. As they climb higher in the building, the activities become more advanced. The elevator panel on the left doesn’t correspond to a typical mental model of how an elevator works. When the user realizes that going up to a higher floor is represented as going down, it causes cognitive dissonance. When we stick to conventions, as shown in the example on the right, we’re modeling the way most people think. "I don’t want to wonder what an icon means." When using icons for menu options and buttons, support the icons with text. Because there is no standard icon set in the world of eLearning, our audiences have seen numerous and diverse icons for "Menu" "Lesson" "Glossary" and such. Speed up the recognition process by adding text beneath the icon. If there really is no room for text (and this is hard to believe), then display the text in a tool tip—you know, the text that shows up when the mouse hovers over a button. In the example below, the icon on the left could mean Notes, Resources, Menu or something else. By adding text to the icon, as shown on the right, we help the user quickly identify the icon’s purpose and reduce unnecessary mental processing. User interface design is a complex and deep subject. This is just the tip of the iceberg. Please share with us your user interface rules of thumb. Post from: The eLearning CoachUser Interface Design For eLearning - Updated Share this on LinkedinTweet This!Email this to a friend?Share this on FacebookShare this on del.icio.usStumble upon something good? Share it on StumbleUponAdd this to 100 bookmarks

I attended my very first Twitter Chat last night!  I have finally reached a point in my Twitter experience where I don’t freak out when people tweet at me!  It was a good experience and I can’t wait to do it again! *screaming like a banshee in my head* Ok, I’m calm now. So, the […]

Katrina Keene is an Instructional Technology Consultant based out of Chattanooga, TN who is also the Director of Innovation for the Canterbury School in Fort Meyers, FL. Follow Katrina http://www.twitter.com/teachintechgal This episode of House of #EdTech is brought to you by TodaysMeet. Visit http://www.todaysmeet.com/houseofedtech House of #EdTech is sponsored by Audible.com. There are over 150,000 titles to choose from for your iPhone, Android, Kindle or other mp3 player. http://www.audibletrial.com/houseofedtech   All links and shownotes at http://www.chrisnesi.com/2015/03/education-innovator-katrina-keene.html   FEEDBACK Call: (732) 903-4869 Voxer: cnesi4602 Email: feedback@chrisnesi.com Twitter: http://twitter.com/mrnesi Send a voice message from http://www.chrisnesi.com

March Madness is in full swing and what better way to get in on the excitement than with the 2015 edition of the #edtech Final Four! Featuring: Aurasma, Tozzl, Meerkat, and Office Mix This episode of House of #EdTech is brought to you by TodaysMeet. Visit http://www.todaysmeet.com/houseofedtech House of #EdTech is sponsored by Audible.com. There are over 150,000 titles to choose from for your iPhone, Android, Kindle or other mp3 player. http://www.audibletrial.com/houseofedtech All links and shownotes at http://www.chrisnesi.com/2015/03/2015-edtech-final-four-hoet032.html FEEDBACK Call: (732) 903-4869 Voxer: cnesi4602 Email: feedback@chrisnesi.com Twitter: http://twitter.com/mrnesi Send a voice message from http://www.chrisnesi.com