Thank you for joining me for my presentation titled "Instructional Design with the Learner in Mind". My name is Carli Cockrell, and I am a Boise State University student only weeks away from receiving my Masters of Educational Technology.

Please note that the information I am about to present specifically looks at a course design in Desire2Learn, a learning management system. However, the content within the presentation can apply to a variety of instructional design scenarios.

Today I would like to focus on ways to ensure that your online students have a positive online learning experience. The topic I will examine is the navigation of the course while considering cognitive load. Let's get started!

Here is a student's view of a homepage we currently use in Desire2Learn. Notice that the entire page is an announcement feed. Although you cannot see from this screenshot, the drop down menus up above the announcements only say "content" to indicate where the student is supposed to go to start the modules. The current student view of this online course may be confusing for a learner to navigate. But, with some easy redesigns, we can turn this from a wall of text to an online course that considers the learner's cognitive load while navigating the course.

Cognitive load is important to consider when designing any kind of content. Cognitive load relates to how one generates schema, and the long-term memory associated with the schema. Basically, cognitive load is related to the amount of working memory being used by one's brain to complete a task. The working memory is used right away, long before a memory can even be stored in one's long-term memory. The ultimate goal of any significant learning event is to generate schema, but that cannot be done if the cognitive load reached is either intrinsic or extraneous. Intrinsic cognitive load relates to the difficulty of the task and extraneous cognitive load relates to how to the learning is presented. Both should be considered by instructional designers when designing content and learning environments. Germane cognitive load is optimal as it is directed toward generating schema. For more information on cognitive load, visit http://theelearningcoach.com/learning/what-is-cognitive-load/. So, how do we redesign the Desire2Learn homepage with cognitive load and navigation in mind?

The learner's navigation is streamlined in the redesign of the student homepage. The announcements are located in the top widget box, but the announcements from previous dates are hidden, thus preventing the wall of text. An instructor box is included in the bottom left corner and includes the instructor's name, email address, office hours, and a quick link to the syllabus infographic. The content browser is located in the middle with module one, the syllabus and the schedule. The other modules are hidden from student view unless the student navigates to the "content" page of the website. A calendar was also added to the right side of the homepage to help students remember what is due. The way the homepage is now designed reduces intrinsic and extraneous cognitive load because the student is not overwhelmed with a wall of text that may appear too difficult. Also, the student would be less likely to become lost in the navigation now, thus increasing the likelihood that the learner could direct his/her germane cognitive load toward the actual content.