• Home
  • Free Resources
    • Storyboard Depot
    • Instructional Design Programs
    • Best Stock Photo Sites
    • PowerPoint Grids
    • eLearning Examples
    • Glossary of Online Learning Terms
    • Graphic Editing Tools
    • Icon Collections
  • My Books
  • About
  • Book Store
  • ON-DEMAND COURSES

The eLearning Coach

For designing effective learning experiences

  • Podcasts
  • LXD
  • eLearning Design
    • Audience
    • Instructional Design
    • Learning Objectives
    • Storyboarding
    • Tests
    • User Interface
  • eLearning 2.0
  • Cognition
  • Multimedia
    • Audio
    • Graphics
    • Video
  • Reviews
    • Book Reviews
    • Software Reviews
  • At Work
You are here: Home / Podcasts / ELC 014: Are you getting any better?

ELC 014: Are you getting any better?

A Conversation with Julie Dirksen

by Connie Malamed

Tweet31
Pin2
Share19
52 Shares
http://traffic.libsyn.com/theelearningcoach/ELC014.mp3

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: Google Podcasts | Spotify | Stitcher | Podchaser | RSS | iTunes

Are you getting any better?

The field of learning design isn’t improving as quickly as many practitioners would like. One way to move things forward is to explore how effective we are at designing learning experiences. With an honest look at our designs, we then know what direction to take to improve. This isn’t always easy to do in the world of eLearning. But Julie Dirksen has some solutions.

Design for How People learnJulie Dirksen is the author of Design For How People Learn. She’s an experienced independent consultant and instructional designer with more than 15 years of experience creating highly interactive e-learning experiences. She also has a background in user experience design, game-based learning and behavior change.

WE DISCUSS:

  • Why eLearning design isn’t improving quickly
  • Deliberate practice in eLearning design
  • Why the feedback loop doesn’t get closed
  • Ways to close the feedback loop
  • How to do user testing
  • Why getting an outside perspective is required

TIME: 22 minutes

TRANSCRIPT: Download the ELC 014 Podcast Transcript.

RATE: Rate this podcast in iTunes

RESOURCES:

  • Julie’s website: Usable Learning
  • Design for How People Learn by Julie Dirksen
  • My review of Design for How People Learn
  • Gorilla HCI by Jakob Neilsen
  • Don’t Make Me Think, Revisited by Steve Krug
  • Rocket Surgery Made Easy by Steve Krug

COMMENT

How do you close the feedback loop? Ideas? Comment below.


Get The eLearning Coach delivered to your Inbox every month, with ideas, articles, freebies and resources.

ELC 014: Are you getting any better?

Comments

  1. Connie Malamed says

    September 11, 2014 at 12:19 pm

    Yes I agree about the paper prototypes and I am sure Julie does too. Thanks for the Design School link.
    Connie

  2. Kunal Chawla says

    September 7, 2014 at 5:16 pm

    Really enjoyed this podcast. Thanks for making this happen Connie and Julie.

    One thought about user testing – it may be best to do this early on in the design process while using paper prototypes. This provides designers with the feedback loop necessary at a stage of the design when the content is still malleable.

    More about how to do paper prototypes here – http://dschool.stanford.edu/wp-content/themes/dschool/method-cards/prototype-to-test.pdf

  3. Connie Malamed says

    March 20, 2014 at 7:28 am

    Hi Leslie,
    I’m glad this was inspiring! That was the goal. 🙂
    Best,
    Connie

  4. Leslie Blanton says

    March 20, 2014 at 6:06 am

    Connie and Julie, thanks for this great podcast. It’s lighting the fire under me–again–to get real feedback and test usability. The tips on how to do this remotely are helpful, too.

  5. Allison Miner says

    February 13, 2014 at 5:48 pm

    Great podcast Connie. I really liked the idea of using a web-based way to do some user testing. I think the Quality Matters program and process can be a good way to “check” for user experience. Three faculty review an online course using a researched-based rubric for course design; they all provide significant feedback. This is an adjunct to performing user testing with students. Just a thought…

  6. Connie Malamed says

    January 30, 2014 at 7:33 pm

    Thanks, Jeff. It was a fun conversations to have.

  7. Jeff Dalto says

    January 30, 2014 at 6:43 pm

    This was an interesting podcast, thanks.

    I’ve read Julie’s book, so was familiar with a good deal of this, but it’s always a good reminder.

    I also liked the reference to Steve Krug’s book, the mentions to user experience testing (the guerilla testing stuff was new information to me), and enjoyed recognizing Julie’s points about right v. better from her learning resolutions post on OpenSesame.

    As always, thanks. Have great days, you two.

Trackbacks

  1. Session 10 Response to Prompts | ETEC 541 says:
    March 17, 2014 at 6:37 am

    […] Connie Malamed hosted a podcast which addressed the feedback loop, and it was this podcast which inspired me to include the Formative Evaluation components into both group projects as a part of the overall design. […]

  2. ELC 014: Are you getting any better? | Learning... says:
    February 27, 2014 at 3:52 pm

    […] Recorded conversation with Julie Dirksen about how to improve our eLearning designs through user testing and better usability.  […]

  3. ELC 014: Are you getting any better? | E-Learni... says:
    January 27, 2014 at 12:19 pm

    […] Recorded conversation with Julie Dirksen about how to improve our eLearning designs through user testing and better usability.  […]

  4. ELC 014: Are you getting any better? | Technolo... says:
    January 16, 2014 at 4:14 pm

    […] Recorded conversation with Julie Dirksen about how to improve our eLearning designs through user testing and better usability.  […]

  5. ELC 014: Are you getting any better? | eLearnin... says:
    January 16, 2014 at 12:00 am

    […] Recorded conversation with Julie Dirksen about how to improve our eLearning designs through user testing and better usability.  […]

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Writing for Instructional Design

Subscribe to my newsletter AND get my eBook, Writing for Instructional Design.

Get the latest articles, resources and freebies once a month plus my free eBook, Writing for Instructional Design.

The Learning Guild

CSUN Instructional Design Program

CSUN Instructional Design Program

Fullerton Instructional Design Program

Fullerton Instructional Design Program

Learn ID at University of San Diego

u of san diego id program

ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS ABOUT A CAREER IN ID

answers to 5 key questions about a career in instructional design

NOW AVAILABLE AS AN EBOOK

You can now buy the email course as a PDF to get all the lessons at once. Price: $15.00 US.

eBook Cover
Click the image to buy the book.

SITE MENU

Home
Resources
My Books
About
Book Store
Membership Community

TOPIC MENU

Podcasts
LXD
eLearning Design
eLearning 2.0
Cognition
Multimedia (Graphics & Audio)
Reviews
At Work

RESOURCES

Storyboard Depot
Instructional Design Programs
Best Stock Images
PowerPoint Grids
eLearning Examples
Glossary of Online Learning
Graphic Editing Tools
Icon Collections

© Copyright 2021 Connie Malamed · All Rights Reserved