- My job as QA
I would say that I have always cared about aesthetic. When I was a child I cared that my work was ordered, inmaculate and I liked to present everything neat as a pin. I think with the pass of the years I have lost part of that perfectionism. However, this is a quality that has helped me to find a job in the tech industry. I care about details and process and that makes me a good Quality Assurance. Also, that job has brought me the opportunity to learn from other professionals that their main job is to take care of how things look and work. I work closely with UX and designers, and I have learn how the design and the position of elements are relevant for the users and how they will interact with the platform, this is crucial.
“Where academics are,rightly,asked to be well-versed in how to ensure accessibility of digital teaching resources to all students regardless of their specific learning needs, we are rarely asked to reflect on the every day design decisions we make as we carve learning spaces out of institutional LMS’s for our selves and our students”
I have learnt that having the power to create an interface gives better answers to your users, the communicate better with the platform and this something important, because it keeps them hooked, that is the main goal! It makes all the experience better. The authors of the Manifesto pointed out how usually teachers rarely have control of the LMS interface. I wonder if this is because of lack of knowledge? Maybe because all the LMS are predetermined programmes that not allow the enough customisation, companies don’t want educators to have this power? lack of resources? we should assume that teachers need to work closely with UX, designers and even developers in order to offer a good interface that can guarantee the needs of their students. Or do we prefer to pay a software that is already designed and we scramble to use it in an efficient way?
- Sharpening pencils
When I got my first job as an educator of teenagers I had an older colleague that every day, after the activity with the group, he spent some time sharpening all the pencils of the class. He spent time ordering by colours and making sure that all the material was well presented, specially the pencils were sharpen as new. I remembered I asked him why he was doing it? what was the point? he said: well, the guys are more cautious, calm and spent more time with the task when everything looks like new. Aesthetics matter!
Back them I learnt how important is to have a good presentation of materials. Motivation, creativity and expertise are important to teach a good class. Moreover, having great materials, clean and neat helps that the students to get evolved and feel more motivated to participate.
- Toys and games
Another example where I am thoughtful about aesthetics is how I present toys to my son. I see how my he interacts with his toys and games depending how I present it to him. If everything is well organised, in order and a few things presented, he spends more time playing with them. I observe him and learn what he likes the most and what kind of toys he prefer to play. I take on consideration his preferences and I try to find other games that are related to the things he likes. At the same time, when he has been playing for some days and I want him to be more adventurous and try other things, I present other elements/materials I think he would enjoy. I prepare the space in a way he will find the new items in motivational way. I know that way, the new item will attract his attention and he will discover other things that can become the favourite one!
In general, he leads his day activities, he chooses if he reads a book, plays with a ball or paints. However, I know I have the power to condition his actions.
- Structure of power
As is pointed out in the Manifesto, teachers have more control of how users/students will interact with the interface. The teacher has the option to choose how to structure the interface and manage the information, for example, as the Manifesto suggested, considering the structure of the forum.
This first week of the programme, we all have experimented how the forum can develop. In this case we see how the structure is very open and all students are allowed to create new threads. Is this facilitating the communication and the sharing of knowledge? Honestly, in my opinion, it has been kind of chaotic. Many threads have been opened with a similar title/topic. Considering that the discussion was focused on the Manifesto, it would be easier if all the conversations about the same statement would have been together. I have felt a little bit lost and unable to follow conversations. I think this a great example of what the manifesto talks about.
- Homogenization vs. individuality
It is pretty clear than aesthetic follows tendencies and fashion. The culture, context, era, everything has an influence in what we understand what is aesthetic or not. Obviously, beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but there is a huge influence from the context on our perception. In that way, I feel sometimes we are trying to fit our work to the current standards. Some how, we are not respecting our individuality, or we are not being as much creative as we would like in order to follow the current moda.
If we assume that aesthetic has a significant influence in shaping education, we should be careful and refuse to create a learning process where students are not motivated to be creative, playful, original and respect their individuality.
Thanks for another thoughtful, critical and relevant blog post, Lidia. And I like the visual map you provide at the top, thanks.
‘This first week of the programme, we all have experimented how the forum can develop. In this case we see how the structure is very open and all students are allowed to create new threads. Is this facilitating the communication and the sharing of knowledge? Honestly, in my opinion, it has been kind of chaotic. Many threads have been opened with a similar title/topic. Considering that the discussion was focused on the Manifesto, it would be easier if all the conversations about the same statement would have been together. I have felt a little bit lost and unable to follow conversations. I think this a great example of what the manifesto talks about.’
This is indeed a great example of what the Manifesto talks about! What is also instructive for me is how aesthetics and the organisation of content needs to evolve in response to a changing audience and wider circumstances. This semester we have more students on IDEL than ever before which has in turn made for more activity and different threads on the forum than was previously the case. Therefore where the structure of the forum has worked fine in recent instances, that perhaps isn’t the case now.
‘It is pretty clear than aesthetic follows tendencies and fashion. The culture, context, era, everything has an influence in what we understand what is aesthetic or not. Obviously, beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but there is a huge influence from the context on our perception. In that way, I feel sometimes we are trying to fit our work to the current standards. Some how, we are not respecting our individuality, or we are not being as much creative as we would like in order to follow the current moda.’
Something I’ve been thinking about recently is how learning management systems seem a bit out-of-step with the presentation of contemporary web design. This isn’t to say that the layout of academic content needs to follow the latest fashions of the web, however I can’t help but wonder whether there might be an alternative to the heavy emphasis on text, menus and blocks of content that characterise an LMS, particularly when we live in an increasingly visually-oriented society. I wonder, for instance, what the response would be to an LMS that looked more like an app than an attempt to combine a textbook book with a classroom? It would be interesting to see whether and how student interaction with content changed.
Thanks for the comment.
“what the response would be to an LMS that looked more like an app than an attempt to combine a textbook book with a classroom?” What a great question!
This is a very interesting question, because I think that current apps, even (good) webs, are very easy to use, very intuitive and everybody with a few minutes feel quite confident using it. I don’t think that is the case for many of LMS or educational software in general.
I guess there are many designers, UX and professionals making sure that everyone can feel comfortable using an app, as well that all the dilemma behind this apps that use many of statrategies to get the attention of the user and make them addicted.