One of my favorite quotations is from Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (Wind, Sand and Stars, 1939):
It seems that perfection is reached not when there is nothing left to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.
… or in less zen-like terms: keep it simple, stupid (KISS).
The more I am using the iPhone app store, the more I am understanding how simplicity will be the key factor in driving adoption of mobile web applications by the mainstream. In 5 taps of my finger I can quickly get a full-fledged application on my device. After a quick download, I can immediately start using it. Then when that application is updated I am clearly notified (unlike Nokia Symbian app’s) that a new download is available. Simple to understand. Easy to use.
Users should not have to contort their behavior to use your service. I see this as an area where our own Praxis Language mobile sites fall down a bit. ChinesePod Mobile is an extremely flexible and convenient way to learn Chinese on the go - if, one goes through the effort of setting up an account, configuring their RSS feed, downloading the lesson files, adopting a suggested study approach, and so on. While theoretically possible, this is far too convoluted of a process for an average student to go through. Technology is supposed to assist in learning, not construct additional barriers. Learning should adjust to students, not the other way around.
A 2005 Educause report “Enabling Mobile Learning” listed five lessons from the deployment of e-learning that they suggested by kept in mind for m-learning. The fifth point stuck out for me (bold highlights mine):
The better the experience and the more intentional the results, the greater is the likelihood that learning will occur. In reflecting on the importance of experience design in software development, Kevin Mullet has noted that early software users were themselves programmers and consequently were highly tolerant of complex interactive models and primitive visual displays. Today’s users are very different. Interactive software is now considered useful only to the extent that ordinary users can understand and take advantage of the functionality it provides. Looking at it from a learning-oriented perspective, when technology can help strengthen learner motivation, focus attention, make a learning moment more memorable, or demonstrate the relevancy of learning to performance, the greater is the likelihood that technology will have a direct positive effect on learning. To this end, one exciting possibility of the coming mobile movement is an opportunity for a sharper focus from instructional technology and instructional design programs on the value of experience design for learning.
An obsession for simplification in design will drive mobile learning into the mainstream.
5 responses so far ↓
1 John B // Jul 29, 2008 at 9:07 am
I’m curious what your thoughts are about how a mobile-friendly version of the *Pod services would look and feel. For me, the chief difficulties are navigation and organization — finding the information I need in an archive of 100s or 1000s of lessons is just hard if all I’m given are lists.
2 Hank Horkoff // Jul 29, 2008 at 10:20 am
John B,
I think it is a matter of perspective. First, who actually needs to browse a 1000 lessons? Not the average user, but perhaps a super user or a teacher. Then maybe a search interface, rather than a directory makes more sense, yes?
I think mobile provides the opportunity to fundamentally re-think application interface design and dramatically simplify things.
3 Michael // Jul 29, 2008 at 8:37 pm
I’d like to chime in. First I think it is best to give people a way to preset or pre-populate a mobile learning plan via computer in advance. Why does consuming services on-line necessitate the selection of those services on-line?
Second, I can easily imagine a way to work through a database of that size. First indicate your level (newbee etc.). Then indicate your desired level of social language (very informational……very social). Finally ask the student for keywords in the order of importance. Say for example…train, get-off, destination. Or cake, vomit, bachelor party. You would then list the top five hits with a synopsis of each indicating how relevant the searches were.
4 Hank Horkoff // Jul 30, 2008 at 3:49 pm
Michael,
The ChinesePod Mobile site is designed exactly how you describe - configure through a computer browser and then consume on-the-go with a mobile device.
I just wonder how much the complexity of various devices confuse the whole process. Again, learning should adapt to the student, not the other way around.
5 Michael // Jul 31, 2008 at 6:12 pm
Hank,
My ignorance is showing through. I don’t use mobile learning. Heck, I bought my first cell phone just two years ago. But I see the possibilities.
I wholeheartedly endorse the notion of simplicity. I think most things should work like computer games. We should be able to learn more about how they work as we use them but they should be immediately usable to a novice within 30-40 seconds of study. That is a pretty high bar I guess. For the developer the trick is to be able to understand the mindset of both the novice and the power user.
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