Interface Critique

Edmodo
In this critique I will examine the qualities that make the Educational Social Media site titled Edmodo an effective and user friendly interface design.

6/5/2013

Figure 1: Edmodo Teacher Interface with teachers community (see Latest Posts highlighted on left side)

Figure Two: Teacher Interface with student groupings (see wolverine highlighted on left side)

http://www.edmodo.com/home#/

Through this critique several principles that illustrate quality interface design will be highlighted and accompanied with a rational for each of the features discussed. It is very important to have an efficient interface design in order to accomplish the objectives or goals established, anything from shopping, planning a trip or for educational purposes. Edmodo is very easy to use and accomplishes its educational goals through the four design principles of consistency, proximity, affordance and visibility Consistency is present in Edmodo due to its mimicking of Facebook allowing its users view the sight as familiar. Facebook is used by many different cultures all over the world and users/learners are able to navigate the site easier due to their prior knowledge of Facebook. In doing so learners from different cultures and societies can navigate Edmodo with ease and it increases the amount of learners who have prior knowledge which are both very important for learner recognition. Items that Edmodo has designed to be similar to Facebook are its groups, communities, status or discussion posts, filter posts, picture attached to the screen name and recent activity, therefore promoting consistency and does not force the learner to activate recall. Edmodo uses proximity to allow learners to easily navigate the site by grouping related items and assigning clear labels to each of those groups. As you can see in figure 1 above, all of the potential assignments are grouped together and labeled at the top of the screen. When an instructor assigns an assignment the image and label light up and present the number of assignments in that link. Located right under the post or assignment bar is the discussion board that will also notify all members of a group when a student has completed an assignment to allow for group discussion. The left side of the interface is mainly reserved for groups, contacts and communities. In this way proximity is illustrated by grouping all of the contacts a user will have. The right side of the screen is assigned the role of notifications, group code (students need to be invited by group code), functional tool bar and recent activity. Proximity is created here by grouping all resource items together and basically created a troubleshooting center for the learner. Edmodo provides affordance to its learner by highlighting and giving numerical values (i.e. if I have two polls to complete the poll icon will be highlighted and the number two will be attached to it) to assignments, notifications, messages or recent activity which involves the learner. I have found this to be very important when students are collaborating with one another on a project as it will also send e-mails explaining recent activity that affects them or their groups. I will usually create documents that go along with assignments on Google docs, when I post them they are shown as a blue hyperlink. This allows students to recognize that a link is present and is part of the assignment for them to complete. Students do not have to access a verity of items in order to find what they need. Additionally, students can place unfinished work on their homepage (see figure 2) and continue working on it at home, which will also notify all individuals in the group that they are doing so for collaboration purposes.

Lastly, Edmodo has effective visibility as I have already mentioned though the other three principles. It highlights assignments that are due and gives due dates for the students. The tools are all very visible to the learner and most of the appear at the top of the screen until the learner scrolls down the screen. The color scheme allows for better reading and locating applications. Groups and other applications are highlighted with different colors and a learner and organize them as they please. Generally, students place pictures that give other learners a face to go with the name so they have a visual representation of others in their learning community.
References Mayer, R.E. (2005) The Cambridge handbook of multimedia learning. Santa Barbara, CA: Cambridge University Press. Vygotsky, L. (1978). Mind in society: The development of higher psychological processes. In Mayer, R.E. (2005) The Cambridge handbook of multimedia learning. Santa Barbara, CA: Cambridge University Press. Jonassen, David; Lee, Chwee; Yang Chia-Chi; Laffey, James The Collaboration Principle in Multimedia Learning In Mayer, R.E. (2005). The Cambridge handbook of multimedia learning. Santa Barbara, CA: Cambridge University Press Bair, R. (2013). Lecture EDUC 633. Frostburg State University.