Learn about UX Rules in Mobile Learning

Introduction

Nowadays, everyone is using mobile phones and glued to them. On average, people check their phones 221 times every day. It is now the primary way of communicating with friends and family, online shopping, ordering food, playing games, and so on. Source

According to statistics by edume, smartphones are used by 80% of the world's population. With having that extent of accessibility, today mobile users are growing exponentially. The user experience is enhanced. It encompasses users’ perceptions and feelings before, during and after their interaction with cellular devices. Mobile learning is a new means of accessing mobile learning content. Let’s take a plunge into mobile learning and know more about its role in user experience. Source

What is mobile learning? 

The new means to access learning content through utilizing mobile devices is mobile learning, often known as M-learning. You can learn whenever and wherever you want, provided that you have a mobile device connected to the internet. 

There is a growth of mobile users and mobile use. The number of mobile users and the amount of time they spend on their phones is on the rise. With more people doing more things on their phones, the focus then comes on how to improve the individual components that make up the mobile user experience. 

When there is a massive increase in adoption to mobile users, it then becomes really important to improve the user experience. Therefore, creating delightful mobile user experiences pushes us to reconsider a lot of what we've taken for granted in desktop design. Mobile-specific concerns, such as small screens, wide variances in device characteristics, usage and connectivity limits, and the difficult-to-identify-but-ever-changing mobile environment, all add to the complexity.

When designing for mobile, designers must first determine whether to create a single design that fits all devices or numerous versions tailored to different screen sizes. Responsive design is the first type. Adaptive design is the second. Typically, the first approach is to design for the smallest gadget and build up from there (smartphones to tablets, etc.). Then web standards (W3C's) are followed, and as many browser kinds as feasible are supported. It's critical to concentrate on context, ease of use, conciseness, and consistency.

Designing for mobile includes many things to consider, and while many are conventional UX factors, there will also be mobile-specific design considerations. Will your mobile offering be integrated with your current offering? If it does, will you use the responsive or adaptive design?

With learners seeking access to learning at all times and on any device, delivering e-learning that can be accessed on any device has become critical. Adaptive and responsive design are the options; there are distinctions between the two. Knowing them will assist you in selecting the best option. There are two primary approaches to developing asynchronous content for delivery across a variety of mobile devices. 

Adaptive Design

It's a style of design that adapts the layout of an online course to the device on which it's being watched. The layout of the screen changes depending on the device being used to view the material - desktop, laptop, tablet, or smartphone.

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Responsive Design

The content presentation changes in adaptive design to meet a pre-defined set of devices. For various screen sizes, several layouts are generated. As a result, a distinct layout must be created for each individual screen size. If the material to be viewed on a desktop, laptop, and smartphone, three alternative layouts must be built to accommodate these devices. Images are re-sized to fit different screen sizes.

Let's take a closer look at the various guidelines that can improve the user experience standards. In this article, we'll go over each of these characteristics in detail and elaborate on each with specific rules.

Design

Graphic design, branding, and layout are all part of the mobile device's visual presentation and interactive experience. To assist users in completing their objectives, lead them from the first and most visible feature of the design to additional elements. This is referred to as visual flow. To represent the brand's identity and help the user, a good design combines visual aspects with information architecture, content, and functionality. Let’s look at the various guidelines of design.

Design for easy scanning and glanceability. The term "glanceability" relates to how quickly and easily information is conveyed through a visual design.

Using colour, font, and personality, maintain aesthetic consistency with different touch-points and experiences (mobile, app, Web, print, and real-world).

In the design phase, think about both portrait and landscape orientations. Multiple orientations are becoming more common, and devices automatically change to match their physical orientation gives the next level of experience to the user.

When the user changes orientation, the user's position on the page is preserved. In the new orientation, indicate extra or different functionality.

Functionality

Functionality refers to the tools and features that allow users to execute tasks and meet their objectives. Let’s look at the various guidelines of functionality.

l Prioritise and display important aspects from other channels that are particularly relevant in a mobile setting.

To engage and delight consumers, provide relevant mobile-only features (such as barcode scanning and image recognition) and expand functionality using the capabilities of mobile devices where possible.

Make sure that the most important features and content are mobile-friendly.

Ensure that critical capabilities are available across all channels. Regardless of the device or channel, users who login in should see their unique preferences. If a particular feature isn't available on mobile, direct users to the proper channel.

Information Architecture

This refers to the process of organising functionality and material into a logical structure. It will assist users in finding information and completing tasks like Navigation, search, and labelling are all part of this. Let’s look at the various guidelines of Information Architecture.

On the landing page, provide links to the primary features and material, prioritised according to the user's demands.

Allow mobile users to access the most important material and functions with the fewest number of taps or keystrokes feasible. Instead of being deep, navigation optimised for small screens is frequently broad and shallow.

Take care of both touchscreen and non-touchscreen users' navigational needs.

Provide navigational cues that tell users where they are, how to get back, and how to return to the beginning. Breadcrumbs are commonly implemented on mobile devices by replacing the "Back" button with a label that shows the user the part or category they came from.

Use succinct, clear, consistent, and descriptive language.

Content

Content is the numerous sorts of material in various formats, such as text, photographs, and video, that provide information to the user. Let’s look at various content guidelines.

Users should be given a suitable and well-balanced combination of content.

Use multimedia when it aids the user's duties on a mobile device, provides value to the content, or furthers the website's aim.

Allow the user to control multimedia content by avoiding auto-starting video or sound, allowing the user to skip or stop it, and being conscious of the bandwidth it consumes.

Make sure the content is mobile-friendly. Copy should be designed for shorter attention spans on mobile devices, just as we have chunking standards when migrating from print to web.

Ensure that the principle content is supplied in a format that the target device can understand.

Usability

Usability is a broad term that refers to how well information architecture, design, content, and other factors work together to help users achieve their objectives. Let’s look at guidelines for usability.

Make it clear to the user what can be picked, tapped, or swiped, especially on touchscreen devices (this is known as ‘Affordance’).

Swipe ambiguity, which occurs when the same swipe action indicates various things in different places of a screen, was another concern. Make sure that touchability is obvious and that objects like links, icons, and buttons may be tapped.

To make the mobile experience more intuitive and to shorten the learning curve for users, follow conventions and patterns. Platform-specific standards and rules should be followed by dedicated apps.

These guidelines will help designers to design solutions that satisfy the specific needs and constraints of mobile users. To maximize on-the-go interactive experiences, designers should focus on accessibility, discoverability, and efficiency. 

Conclusion 

Everyone strives to provide a user experience that satisfies the design work. The purpose of learning experience design is to assist someone in learning something new. It's all about enhancing outcomes and the experience's quality. Designing a user interface that supports and enhances the cognitive and affective processes involved in learning is a key aspect. The mobile environment is distinct from the typical desktop environment, and while basic UX and usability concerns are required, the mobile environment also necessitates additional design considerations. In order to provide the greatest possible user experiences, mobile designers must pay close attention to the details.

The field of mobile user experience is always evolving, and new chances for improvement are constantly emerging. With educational apps for kids, corporate eLearning, and online degree programmes on the rise, more and more UX designers are being tasked with building learning digital experiences. I think I have given you a rundown of the essential parts of the mobile user experience, as well as some pointers on how to get started with each. By focusing on these particular areas, you will be able to provide our users with excellent overall mobile user experiences.

About the Author

Jay 

Sr. Associate - Marketing at Techved 

Jay is having 5+ years of experience in the field of user experience design and marketing skills which is what keeps him going.