XplanaZine

Interview with Elaine Bontempi

Do you develop online courses?
Yes.

What subject matter do you prefer to work with?
Educational Psychology and Social Sciences.

Who are the intended learners? What level are they?
Most of the courses that I develop are targeted towards undergraduate and graduate students.

How do you use graphics when you design a course?
Most of the graphics I use in course development are static, however I use animated images as well.

What learning objectives do your graphics serve in an online course?
Graphics serve as: novel stimuli to gain learner’s attention; visual organizers; humor; elaboration; and ways to promote thought among learners.

What kind of graphical content do you use? Banners? Color-coding? Specific images? Special arrangement that displays information in a certain way on the screen?
I use all of the above.

Please describe your philosophy of using graphics in online courses.
When using graphics in a course, it is imperative that the graphics match the subject matter they are being presented with. When graphics are either inappropriate (meaning that they either do not correspond with the subject matter or they are culturally biased) they are distracting to learners. It is important that graphics are placed next to the text that they describe, and correctly labeled. In addition, graphics should be of good quality and not take too long to download. If using a large graphic, it is helpful to make a clickable thumbnail of a section of the image (the most important part-not some vague or unrecognizable part). This allows for quicker downloading time of the page, and gives learners a sense of choice regarding the accessing of images.

Can a good graphic go bad? Why, when, and how might that happen?
Yes-when it is saved in format that cannot be accessed by most learners, if it is used inappropriately, not clearly labeled, does not match the content of the course, or saved at too low of a resolution.

How do graphics “mediate” the e-learning space? In this case, “mediate,” describes the way that graphics influence and even alter the way that learning takes place — between learners, instructors, and the content itself.
Graphics serve as examples or organizers of information. It may make a difference between whether or not a learner clearly understands the subject. For example, if developing instruction on changing a flat tire-step by step graphics depicting each stage of the process, would be very helpful. Graphics may also be helpful when teaching learners to identify or distinguish between examples and non-examples.

Do you believe that the graphics that are used somehow influence how individual learners perceive the instructor? Do they attribute attributes of the graphics to you, your personality, your values?
Graphics can certainly help students gain insight into the developers’ personality and values-especially when graphics are used as humor. However, graphics may simply be informational.

How does the interface (the website, course management software, e-mail, the computer screen presentation) affect how you present yourself? What are the elements in the interface that you have to compensate for? How do you compensate for them? Please describe one such experience.
I believe the interface affects the way that I present myself in several ways. First, it determines how organized my thoughts are presented. It is my goal to make things clear and up front to learners-to abide by the “three click rule” in order to prevent learners from getting lost in the navigation or side tracked with too much outside information. It also affects how I can communicate to the learners. I prefer to have the option of addressing learners either individually or as a group. In addition, I prefer asynchronous communication. This is simply due to the fact that many of the students that I teach via the Internet live in different time zones. It is not always convenient for us to arrange a specific time for us to chat online.

How do you attempt to modify the interface? How do you make it friendlier? More learner-centered? Do you design the course to build in reinforcement of elements you want to emphasize? Please describe one such experience. Tell in detail how you did it.
I attempt to make the interface more user-friendly by adhering to instructional design models. Material can be presented in a logical order by clearly identifying learning goals, behavioral objectives, and learning strategies. Again, I think it is important to make navigation simple and clear. Learners should not have to make more than three clicks (hyperlinks) to access material, or they risk getting lost in navigation. Design should be simple yet attractive – I prefer a non-cluttered, clean look to a site filled with “bells and whistles” which tend to distract learners. Although I enjoy movies and sound files, it can be frustrating to the learner when they need to download specific software in order to access such files. Thus, any animation should be presented in a popular format.