Tag: consistency

Consistency between courses

Last week I explored the reasons that consistency is important within a single course. This week I’ll look at whether it is just as important to maintain consistency from course to course.

For this post, I wanted to look at various perspectives like I did last week, but I struggled to find them. I already examined the perspective of cognitive theory last week, and I couldn’t find relevant information from the research on engagement. Therefore, I will focus today solely on the realm of marketing.

From the realm of marketing

I recently read an article by Shep Hyken about how Apple’s brand has developed fanatics. Although I’m actually not a fan of Apple, even I must admit they have done an excellent job roping in clients and making them devotees.

One of the 3 characteristics he discusses regarding branding is consistency. He states that “Customers want to know what to expect. A consistent, predictable experience gives the customer confidence.” (Hyken, 2018). Now, he isn’t just referring to the look of Apple, but also the interactions with the company. Regardless, consistency is important for marketing.

Another interesting article on consistency comes from the blog of Mighty Fine Design Co. This article discusses many important aspects of consistency in branding. A few of their points are really useful to learning experience designers.

Firstly, consistency builds trust. Secondly, consistency is comfortable. And thirdly, consistency is invisible. This last point was the most interesting to me. They state that when something is not consistent it makes us uncomfortable. We don’t always know why or what is inconsistent, but we know that it doesn’t quite fit.

This is a particularly valuable lesson when it comes to learning. Learners will subconsciously feel when a course just doesn’t quite match, and it can lead to an almost imperceptible negative emotion that ultimately suppresses learning. For more on how negative emotions suppress, check out the article by Margie Meacham.

Conclusion

Although the research related to inter-course consistency is slim, it does seem to lean in the direction of keeping things consistent. Personally, I flip flop on this issue frequently because I see pros and cons of a consistent look as well as mixing things up. I had hoped to have a more clear answer after my research this week, but things aren’t as clear-cut as I want them to be. What are your thoughts on consistency between courses: essential, pointless, or somewhere in between?

References

Hyken, S. (2018, Oct). Like Apple, you can excel in engagement, differentiation, and consistency. Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/sites/shephyken/2018/10/21/you-can-be-like-apple-too/#1f92ec7a973f

Meacham, M. (2014, October). All Learning is Emotional. Retrieved from https://www.td.org/insights/all-learning-is-emotional

Mighty Fine Design Co. (2018, September). Branding is all about consistency in design. Retrieved from https://www.mightyfinedesign.co/design-brand-consistency/

Consistency within a course

The phrase “consistency is key” is so ingrained in a learning experience designer’s mind that it is always a shock when someone, usually of a different profession, desires otherwise.

When I began a new job, I was told that the higher ups wanted as much variety as possible in our eLearning courses, and that meant that every slide should look different from every other, and that as many different interactions as possible should be used. I was told that our learners get bored quickly and variety is required to keep them engaged.

I couldn’t convince them otherwise. Even my old trustworthy argument, “I’m designing in a way that works best for the content – each slide’s design depends on the actual content that will be put on it and how the learner will learn best” was met with stony silence.

As a new employee, I did exactly what was asked of me. But now, I wonder how I could have done a better job explaining the importance of consistency – or, was I just plain wrong?

A. From the realm of graphic design

Although I am by no means a graphic designer, I do know a few of the basic principles. The first things I ever learned about graphic design were the CRAP principles. Contrast-Repetition-Alignment-Proximity are good guidelines for a novice designer to follow.

Although it uses a different word, repetition gets at the concept of consistency. According to Robin Williams, you should “Repeat visual elements of the design throughout the piece…this develops the organization and strengthens unity” (Williams, 2015). In my mind, the visual elements described by Williams could refer to the assets on the slide, such as buttons, text boxes, pictures, etc., as well as interactive elements and animations. From a purely visual perspective, it seems that consistency is our friend.

B. From the realm of multimedia learning theory

It doesn’t matter how great the graphic design is, as we know, there is much more to learning than physical appearance. That is where multimedia learning theory comes in. It can tell us why developing organization and strengthening unity (as described by Williams) is so important.

Richard Mayer is the guru of multimedia learning design. One concept he writes of frequently is extraneous overload. This is a type of cognitive overload that occurs when the essential processing and the extraneous processing combined are greater than the learner’s cognitive capacity (Mayer, 2014). In plain words, this means that the learner’s brain is overwhelmed by the combination of brain power required to manage the content plus brain power required to look at unhelpful images, navigation, animations, etc.

Due to the limited capacity of the human brain, Mayer recommends following a number of multimedia principles designed to reduce extraneous overload. One of these principles is called the coherence principle. This principle states that people learn better when extra material (that which is not required for learning) is excluded rather than included.

Having a variety of irrelevant images, a large number of fonts and colours, confusing navigation, or flying, flipping, and twirling animations all add to the extraneous material that should be excluded. This means that a consistent look, with consistent navigation, and only the essential information aids in learning.

When the learner doesn’t need to think about where to look next, how to interpret the content on the slide, or how to move on to the next slide, then the coherence principle has been followed. From a multimedia learning theory perspective, it seems that consistency is the goal.

C. From the realm of cognitive theory

From both a visual perspective and a learning perspective, consistency is key. But how does consistency make us feel?

Apparently, the desire for predictability is an innate human characteristic. Humans act based on the consequence of previous actions. We expect that what happens once will happen again (Glaserfeld, 1997). We expect that the layouts, colour schemes, and navigation that we see in a course will be replicated throughout the course. This helps us understand how to interact with the course.

This point should be particularly interesting to constructivists. A major strategy of constructivism is to provide context to all that is taught. This works because learners expect that what happened in the past will repeat itself in the same way.

Conclusion

From graphic design to cognitive theory, research suggests that there should be internal consistency in a course. Once learners understand the navigation and know what to expect when they see certain layouts, the level of extraneous processing dips. But what about consistency from course-to-course? Is it just as important to keep the same format for different training topics? Check out the part 2 next week for more information.

References

Ferguson, D. (2015, April). Steering away from cognitive overload. Retrieved from https://www.td.org/insights/steering-away-from-cognitive-overload

Glaserfeld, v.-E. (1998). Anticipation in the constructivist theory of cognition. Woodbury, NY: American Institute of Physics.

Johnson, J. (2016, May). How CRAP will make you a better designer. Retrieved from https://creativemarket.com/blog/how-crap-will-make-you-a-better-designer

Mayer, R.E. (2014). The Cambridge handbook of multimedia learning (2^nd ed). New York, NY: University of Cambridge.

Williams, R. (2015). The non-designer’s design book (4^th ed.). PeachPit Press (Pearson Education): USA.