I’ve been serving on the search committee for our new Associate Dean of Distance Learning for the School of Nursing, and the process has me thinking once again about the qualities that make an online course successful vs. not. I started off as one of the first students to take web-based distance courses back in 1995, and I’ve taken 1/2 dozen more since then. Each of these courses shaped my opinion about distance learning far more than the 13 years experience as an instructional designer/instructor and an earned doctorate in educational technoly ever could.

While I can usually get online instructors to value the importance of clear navigation, consistency, expectations for participation, and so on, I have far less luck getting them to realize the value of an attractive web interface. Even some of our best online instructors have managed to create…ahem…less than appealing sets of course pages. Some are even stubbornly resistant to subtle and even not-so-subtle hints that their pages are ugly enough to turn users off. Why is this message so hard to convey?

What I think may be going on is that faculty who are new to teaching online are now being asked to become visually astute for the first time. This is a talent that can be learned, at least to a degree. Not everyone is born knowing how to present well in a face-to-face class, and the same thing is true online. Not everyone has a tasteful sense of color (to my dismay), and not everyone understands that pixelated, distorted, and unmatched icons jumbled together on a web site make for a confusing, disjointed appearance. Finally, not every instructor understands that a course web site needs to “flow”. That is, a course web site needs to work well not only on the first day of class, but each subsequent visit by a student. That “welcome” message at the top of your screen starts to look mighty stale by visit number umpteen. There needs to be a sort of visual rythm that makes sense to the student, and it needs to be calm and and clear.

The need for an attractive look isn’t just about function; it affects my attitude about the entire course. As a person who is highly visual, if I am required to log in and interact with a site that offends my senses, I will have not only an unpleasant reaction each time I log in, but I’ll be thinking to myself that either the instructor doesn’t have skills that are up to par or that they don’t value the online experience enough to bother.

It’s easy enough to remedy. Ask your more artistically inclined friends for their opinions – ask several of them, in fact. If in doubt, use the default color scheme and icons. Odds are very good these will be more attractive than your amateur attempts. And finally, do some scouting. Ask your students if they know of any sites that they find appealing, and check the sites out. You could even try taking an online course yourself.