InfoPro's Development Approach

InfoPro's mobile learning initiative focus delivering performance-ware, as distinct from courseware. The highlights of our approach to mobile learning are:

• Handheld Device: Considering the variations in the specifications, such as the screen area, resolution, and color depth, of the various handheld devices, InfoPro suggests agreement on the device that needs to be targeted.
• Audience Analysis: Different audiences have different learning styles and behavior. But the audience-specific learning design may not necessarily gel with the specifications of the targeted handheld device. This necessitates investigation into the extent to which the learning design can be optimized for the reason of efficient delivery of the courseware onto the targeted device. And, this extent is also a function of what will be acceptable to the targeted audience. Therefore, an in-depth audience analysis, particularly for the reason of optimizing the learning design for efficient delivery, is undertaken.
• Task Analysis: To be able to design performance-enhancing courseware, or performance-ware, that is rich in real life application of the learning, a detailed micro-level task analysis is undertaken with the objective of identifying the sub-tasks. This facilitates development of small, easily downloadable chunks of learning modules.
• Workflow Analysis: With the intent of developing contextually rich courseware, InfoPro seeks understanding of the typical scenarios in which a specific module of learning will be particularly beneficial for the learner. This facilitates development of situated learning courseware and empowers the learner with just-in-time access to critically needed instructions.
• Content Design: InfoPro focuses on including information that is need-based and essential and developing learner-friendly chunks of instructions. Based on our understanding of the learner tasks, workflows, and the typical real life learner scenarios, we strive to target only the information that is mission-critical for the intended audience. This involves identifying the information that the learner urgently requires or frequently accesses and keeping the text to the minimum.
• Instruction Design: Instructional design focuses on enhancing performance by delivering context-driven and task-sensitive performance-ware. This implies restricting the on-screen text to the minimum, preferably one-screen one-instruction based approach to procedural topics, and using graphics without causing much clutter and for sound instructional reasons (as opposed to aesthetic reasons).
• Evaluation: In reinforcements and assessments, we provide questions with options as hyperlinks as opposed to, for example, check boxes with options. This facilitates optimum utilization of the screen area. We use short text feedback, such as "well done" or "that's incorrect," atop suitable graphics.
• Page Length: Because handheld devices have limited screen area (most PDAs have four-inch square area), we avoid horizontal/vertical scrolling.
• Navigation Design: Along with linear navigation, we investigate the possibility of non-linear design. In the case of non-linear design, we structure the information hierarchically and provide access through drill-down navigation, via hypertext links. However, we provide a link to the launch screen on all inside screens. A suitable progress indicator (where-am-I indicator) is also included to indicate the learner's position within a topic.
• Use Supported Character Sets: InfoPro development team investigates and supports the internal fonts on the targeted device for display of textual content.
• Graphics & Images: As part of our efforts to optimize graphics for the device-specific screen resolution and color depth, we investigate the effectiveness of graphics and images within the learning activity. We also exercise caution while using large, detailed images and graphics with a lot of curved lines. We recommend graphics that are primarily black-and-white. To display graphics that are typically in color, such as logos, we suggest converting the graphic to grayscale for display on a handheld device.
• Layout: While designing for economy, our focus is on facilitating user action and increasingly the usability of the solution by avoiding clutter.
• HTML Tags: When optimizing a Web page, we avoid large, complex nested tables and using meaningful alternate text tags for images and graphics.
• GUI: We strive for a consistent look-and-feel for the course taking into consideration the specifications of the targeted device.
• Development Environment:
  • Macromedia Flash MX Professional 2004 (7.0.1)
  • FlashLite1_1.dll (FlashLite1_1.dmg on the Mac) file for testing Flash applications in the Flash Lite 1.1 authoring environment
  • FlashLite1_1.xml file for publishing Flash Lite 1.1 SWF files
  • Flash Lite 1.1