claudia@websterdesign.net
5.4.11 : EdTec671 : Wednesday Nights
As the title suggests, this project was about helping people choose the type of craft brew specifically for them. I created it to help people who were not familiar with the craft brew industry, but also tried to make it informative enough to capture the attention of the average craft beer drinker.
The best way to communicate an idea is to be as clear as possible with your information. By using clean, simple visuals formatted in a pleasing design, I made the website a comfortable place to visit. According to Clark and Mayer (66), there is consistent evidence that people learn more deeply from words and pictures, than from words alone. I kept the text itself short, so as not to bore or overwhelm the viewer. The visuals are not gratuitous, but reinforce elements covered in the written information. If they are interested in the learning even more about topic, there is a huge selection of well written books, blogs and websites available.
Kellers ARCS model of motivating learners seemed to be the standard to follow when creating my design for this project. It is also a simple concept. Gain the users attention, which I did by making an elegant design, which they must interact with to turn the pages by clicking on the arrows. They move ahead as quickly or slowly as they wish. They are on the site because it is something they are interested in learning about, so it is relevant to their life at that point.
The information given on each page is brief, and yet it contains solid facts that are easy to remember and to build on. Each section is followed by a few questions that the viewer can chose to pause and answer or click past. If they do stop to check their knowledge, they can reinforce what they are learning and check to see they have retained knowledge. Their interest in the topic should aid them in their comprehension and desire to store the facts for future use. As they learn and process the knowledge they can gain satisfaction. Of course the true test is when they go out and test the beer. Will they remember enough information to make a good choice?
As a person who has only recently become aware of the craft brewing industry and community, I realized that there is an overwhelmingly large amount of material out there to be learned. By giving my user a small piece of this, I have given them the opportunity to gain and store as much as they can with the option of returning for review at any time. Each time they go through the lessons, they might pick up more information, until they are satisfied and ready to move on at their own discretion.
Reference:
Clark, C. C., and Mayer, R. E. (2008). elearning and the Science of Instruction. (p 66). San Francisco, CA: Pfeiffer.