Interface design for digital courses

An important question in web-based education is how to deal with the design of the interface. What will the actual screen look like? Two main issues that are especially relevant for educational purposes are discussed, both from a Human-Computer Interaction and an Educational Psychology perspective. The first issue is the design of navigation and interaction in web-based environments. Students have to focus on the content, and do not want to be bothered with the way it works. Some of the most important guidelines for navigation in web-based environments are presented: consistency, global versus local guidance and expectation patterns. To illustrate the implications for screen design, we discuss the development of a graphical user interface for the EML-player. The second issue the chapter deals with is the cognitive architecture of the learner, which gives certain constraints on the way the educational content can be presented. The central ideas of Cognitive Load Theory are discussed, and the issues of multimedia and redundancy are further elaborated upon, resulting in guidelines for presenting educational content in web-based education. In the final discussion, an integrated set of design guidelines is given and some future developments are discussed. Furthermore, some critical remarks and reflections are given on the issue of redundancy in screen design and the plea for minimal screen design.