E-learning Instructional Design Guidelines - Human Factors ...

HFIDTC/WP2.1.5/2
Version 2/ 30 April 2006
8.3 Metadata
• Navigation controls should be simple, intuitive and consistent in naming,
behaviour and screen location placement
• In general, navigation operations should be reversible
• Controls should exist to allow the user to:
o Move forward and back a screen (and replay the current screen if required)
o Move up to the menu that presents multiple units of instruction
o Control video with play, pause, stop and volume controls
• Perpetually available controls such as help, glossary or configuration/setup should
operate on a ‘call and return’ principle where the user is returned automatically to
where they were in the course on completion of the operation (rather than forcing
the user to manually navigate back to their place in the course)
• Appropriate accessibility guidelines are followed (if applicable)
• Long latency events (such as downloads and streaming media buffering) should
be accompanied by indications of what is happening and how long it will take. In
situations where the delay may be significant the user may be offered alternative
media, and/or have the ability to terminate the event in a graceful manner.
• Scrolling content should be avoided wherever possible – and preferably restricted
for embedded media (such as PDFs), rather than forming the basis for screen
design – on the basis that it can potentially conceal content from the user and
allow content to be missed.
• Learning objects should include the following metadata
o Details as to the content ownership within the organisation
o Learning Objective reference to enable linkage with external training
documentation (so that updates may be made when TOs are modified)
o Information as to the audience for which it was designed (this informs the
transferability assessment when moving a learning object to a new learning
event)
o Information on dependent Learning Objectives (and Objects) this also
informs the transferability assessment, as learning objects with dependants
cannot be freely transferred.
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