Learner-centered design: addressing, finally, the unique needs of learners

Abstract

The Challenge & the Opportunity Today, the dominant framework for interface development is User-Centered Design (UCD). As first crystallized in the seminal book by Don Norman and Steven Draper, the needs &capabilities of users, ought to be the real driving force of software design; ease of programming, for example, must give way to ease of end-use. Moreover, simply providing the user with functionality is not enough; a user-centered design must reduce the user’s cognitive load, be easy to learn, reduce time-on-task, and the like.