How can we make it easier to understand and consistently apply best practices from the many different disciples that come together in online learning? This research-based framework provides an easy-to-use view of essential guidelines for building online learning experiences.
It can be overwhelming to realise that building online learning experiences requires that we understand the theory and best practices from a wide range of different disciplines. This results in an interesting tension between developing your specialised skills (like deepening your visual design skills if you are a graphic designer, or your writing skills if you are a content writer) and building more broad knowledge and skills to work effectively on something as complex and interdisciplinary as an online learning experience (like understanding how your work impacts student user experience and accessibility).
The Simplicity Framework is an easy-to-use guide that was developed to reduce this overwhelmed feeling in people working in online education by answering this question: How can we make it easier for people working in online education to understand and apply foundational best practices from education theory, user experience, accessibility and inclusivity, writing for education, video production, and visual design?
The focus of this framework is to provide a strong, broad foundation to ensure that people are covering the essential best practices from different fields, and feel more generally knowledgeable so that they can confidently engage in further research and self study.
In this session attendees will learn about the Simplicity framework and gain access to a copy of this resource as a key take away that they can use in their own work and in their organisations. Once we’ve explored the framework together in the first part of the session we will spend the second part discussing the differences between using these guidelines as part of a cross functional team (where different people fulfill specific functions like writer, designer, video producer) and using these guidelines as a “lone wolf” instructional designer responsible for work across different disciplines. This is a great opportunity for us to learn from each other about these very different circumstances under which people develop online learning experiences.