Usability

Your focus when building your online unit of study should always be on how your students will engage with the content.

Sites which are heavy in graphics, sound or video/animation require memory to not only produce and send but also to receive. This can cause long delays in download times for students either because of the limits on the ability of local cabling to carry the signal or because of the memory limits on the computers they are using. [Table of sample file sizes / download times]

Some tips for making your UoS accessible to students…

• don’t use extraneous images, videos etc
• optimise your content and make it web ready
  
• consider alternatives (CD, text)
• if you are using your eLearning site in class always have a plan B
• certain video or animation packages may require students to have an appropriate software player installed. Wherever possible include links and instructions to download sites for this software and be aware that downloading this software may in itself create unacceptable delays.