Job Aid Design Project

Job Aid: Navigating the Digication Online Community

Design Document

Annotation

Context and Conditions

This job aid was constructed in MIT 511: Multimedia Design & Development under the direction of Dr. Florence Martin in Fall 2007. The purpose of the assignment was to develop a job aid. I chose to develop a job aid instructing users on the Digication Online Learning Community, a free website for educators and students that offers a platform for creating learning communities and basic online courses (text resources, links and discussion boards only). The job aid was developed using Adobe Captivate.

Scope

The design of the job aid was based on a task analysis of the process of navigating the Digication online learning community. To develop the graphics and animation, screenshots were taken using SnagIt and demonstrations were recorded using Captivate. Menus were created to allow users to “jump” to different topics within the system, depending on their needs. Each section included a discussion of the task and a live demonstration. An audio script was also written that was imported into the Captivate program and attached to animation events. Mayer’s principles for Multimedia Learning were the guiding influence on the design of this job aid. The main principles I was sure to adhere were the principles of redundancy, temporal and spatial contiguity. In addition, I was sure to design attending to other principles of design such as the use of color, contrast, repetition, legibility, navigational help, organization and the use of visuals. The module was exported as a Flash movie and used in the “Web-Enhanced Classroom” unit developed for MIT 512: Computer Applications in Education.

Role

I served as both designer and developer for this project. In order to complete it within the allotted time, I also served as my own project manager.

Reflection

For me, the design and development of this job aid was adequate, although there were some elements that, following a formative evaluation, I would definitely change. The audio in the main menu is simply redundant and somewhat annoying. The demonstrations, partially due to a compatibility problem with the version of Captivate and Windows Vista, are not timing correctly. Through the process of revision, these elements would be corrected. I did, however, enjoy the opportunity to develop a more extensive Captivate video than I had previously done and found that the use of a menu is quite effective in developing an electronic job aid. I also valued the ability to integrate this job aid into another project that I was developing using a web page. This successful integration enhanced both projects, making the job aid practical and the web-based unit an integration of technologies.