Hi, I’m Jeongyeon Kim and I’m glad to share our work, Mobile-Friendly Content Design
for MOOCs: Challenges, Requirements, and Design Opportunities.
An increasing number of users are using mobile devices for their learning due to the ease
of access.
The pandemic accelerated such an increase, 64% of learners want to access learning material
through mobile devices, and 70% of them reported improved motivation with mobile learning.
The existing learning frameworks suggest that tiny font sizes and content-heavy lecture
materials on small screens increase learners’ cognitive load and lower judgments of learning.
Meanwhile, situational factors such as ambient noise, ambient light, and the mobile state
of the learner may saturate mobile learners’ visual and auditory channels and cause situationally
induced impairments and disabilities.
Prior work revealed that the situationally induced impairments and disabilities may deteriorate
text legibility, reading comprehension, and cognitive performance.
To reveal the challenges and situations of mobile video-based learning, we conducted
quantitative and qualitative analysis on the visual design of video content from three
perspectives: learners, video content, and video production engineers.
We used a mixed-methods approach to get a comprehensive understanding by comparing the
different perspectives and to investigate a gap between the main stakeholders, learners
and content engineers.
Through learner study and content analysis, we investigated the challenges and problems
of mobile learning using the current MOOC content,
And through the engineer interviews, we looked into the current practices and design considerations
in the design process.
Based on the findings from the three perspectives, we finally created a set of design guidelines
for mobile-friendly MOOCs.
To uncover the difficulties learners face in mobile MOOC learning, we surveyed 134
learners and conducted follow-up interviews with 21 learners to get deeper understanding.
The results revealed two main difficulties learners experience with video content design:
readability issues and limitations on sensory channels.
Readability issues were mainly caused by small font size and dense text.
In particular, slide-based, hand-drawing, and programming lectures deteriorated readability
and legibility problems.
One participant mentioned that the fonts are too small to learn in mobile environment.
On the other hand, learners’ situational auditory impairments worsen due to a lack
of visually organized learning materials such as lecture slides, in distracting mobile environments,
especially in talking-head lectures, the issue was serious.
For example, one of our participants stated that, with the in-class lecture, he just zoned
out but when he’s reading the on-screen lecture material, he can focus easier.
We then evaluated whether the current MOOC videos are suitable for mobile learning, thereby
quantifying deficiencies of current design and guiding improvement schemes.
We analyzed video frames in 101 courses from MOOC platforms by applying the known design
guidelines.
For example, according to the existing guidelines it is recommended to have font size above
16 pt, and some stricter guidelines recommended above 29 pt.
The word count should be below 20 or 40 words, and the color contrast should be above 4.5
or 7.
We chose the criteria of design elements based on the learner study results and literature.
The content analysis results showed a low guideline compliance rate for the key readability
design factors that are reported by the learners.
2.79% for font size, 74.20% for the amount of text, 0.94% for the font size of the text
in the image, and lastly, 66% for color contrast between
text and background.
The green parts in the charts indicate the proportion of the videos that comply with
the guidelines.
We then interviewed 11 video production engineers to investigate how they currently consider
the learners’ challenges.
The results showed that readability is the biggest concern, and they focus on the font
size and amount of content.
Meanwhile, little attention has been paid to complex images and images with text, which
was the major learner-reported difficulties.
In addition, engineers do not pay significant attention to situationally-induced impairments
of learners in the design process.
The findings imply a gap between learners’ challenges and engineers’ design considerations.
Based on the noticeable findings from the study of learners and engineers and video
content analysis, we suggest a set of design guidelines for creating mobile-friendly MOOCs.
Please refer to our paper for the full list of the guidelines.
For example, we found that learners require different font sizes on mobile devices.
Designers or engineers can consider providing options for different font sizes to choose
from depending on the devices.
The users are currently using pinch-zoom interaction to overcome the readability issues, but the
pinch-zoom interaction cuts off parts of the design elements, requiring learners to move
back and forth to see the whole content.
So we recommend supporting element-wise zoom interaction, as you can see on the right side
of the screen.
Some of the learners complained about eye fatigue due to the brightness of content when
they are watching video lectures in dark places, such as in bed before going to sleep.
The dark mode option can be a solution to this problem.
We then validated the suggested guidelines through an evaluation session with video production
engineers.
The engineers’ ratings on each guideline item demonstrated the guideline’s clarity
and applicability.
One of the engineers’ concerns was that it might pose them additional workloads to
follow the guidelines, for example, adding highlights or creating a dark mode design.
This implies the need for some kind of support for them to comply with the guidelines without
additional work, such as automated design generation or automatic video effect creation.
Based on the results of surveys, interviews, and content analysis, we found that there
exists a gap between the learners’ challenges and engineers’ design considerations.
Several design factors such as complex images, images containing text, and color contrast
need to be paid more attention to in the design process.
Meanwhile, engineers’ challenges come from the lack of design guidelines for mobile environments
and the tight deadlines for the design work.
Considering this pain point, system researchers can provide design support for engineers,
for example, a diagnosis or evaluation tool that detects and measures mobile adequacy
of lecture material, or a design tool that supports a cross-device design process.
We also identified design opportunities for mobile design guidelines.
The interview results with the engineers revealed that various stakeholders are involved in
the lecture design process, including learning platform developers and instructional designers.
This indicates that design guidelines targeting a single user group would not be sufficient
and applicable.
A thorough consideration for multiple stakeholders of mobile video lecture creation is required
to build practical guidelines in the design field.
We expect that our research can reveal the landscape of mobile-friendly content design
encompassing learners, content, and engineers, and also provide guidelines to support a seamless
learning experience in mobile environments with lower barriers.