by AJ George 
"It is a miracle that curiosity survives formal education." -- Albert Einstein
After attending Edward Tufte's seminar (that I wrote about last week), it got me thinking about being authoritarian with an audience. Tufte admonished the use of the "slow reveal" in PowerPoint presentations, suggesting instead that if you must use bullet points (he advises against using them altogether), present all your information--clearly and at once. I don't think this applies just to giving a presentation, but also to eLearning.
Have you noticed that a lot of eLearning constricts the navigation to prevent skipping slides? In theory I understand this. You want your audience to take in all of the information. Not only is it important information, but dag nabbit, you spent the time to put it there, why should they get to just skip over it? From an eLearning developer's point of view this makes total sense.
After attending Edward Tufte's seminar (that I wrote about last week), it got me thinking about being authoritarian with an audience. Tufte admonished the use of the "slow reveal" in PowerPoint presentations, suggesting instead that if you must use bullet points (he advises against using them altogether), present all your information--clearly and at once. I don't think this applies just to giving a presentation, but also to eLearning.
Have you noticed that a lot of eLearning constricts the navigation to prevent skipping slides? In theory I understand this. You want your audience to take in all of the information. Not only is it important information, but dag nabbit, you spent the time to put it there, why should they get to just skip over it? From an eLearning developer's point of view this makes total sense.
However, from a learner's point of view, it can be restrictive. Maybe your learner already knows this information. Maybe he would like to explore the lesson in an order than makes more sense to him. Maybe she reads faster than your slide thinks she does.
When I looked into it, I realized I was not the first person in the community to suggest freeing up the navigation, so rather than reiterate what others have said, I have instead gathered some of my favorite posts on eLearning navigation.
Visual Menus: Structure with Style
Curiosity Might Have Killed the Cat, But Learners Love It
Here's Why Unlocking Your Course Navigation Will Create Better Learning
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About the author: AJ George is IconLogic's lead Technical Communicator and author of both "PowerPoint 2007: The Essentials" and "PowerPoint 2008 for the Macintosh: The Essentials."
Thanks for referencing my post, "No Next Button: Some Examples." Additionally, I have found by freeing up navigation, making a very accessible menu, and keeping courses non-linear makes a course easier to use as a refresher course. This is especially true for software training where someone may need to revisit a specific lesson or simulation within the course. On additional visits, they should be able to easily go straight to what they need and not be forced through things they do not need.
Thanks again,
Jeff
Posted by: Jeff Goldman | November 22, 2011 at 10:43 PM