After breaking down the key parts of an e-learning course I could more easily invent my own pattern. I was inspired by my phone. Apps are very popular currently. Most everyone is familiar with this pattern. I thought that this pattern would be easy enough for the user to navigate and yet reinvent how the learning is consumed.
Patterning is the ability to apply memories and past experiences to form a conclusion of repetition or relation.
The original pattern I analyzed is the common elements contained in an e-learning course. Almost all courses are delivered in a rectangular form. They have some element of "next" and "back/previous", rather it be arrows or text buttons. The navigation of the curriculum follows that path; forward and back. Most of the courses either have a title bar that is consistent throughout the course or a title slide and sometimes both. It is very common to have audio and to have that button be located on a stable bar so that the user can access it from any place within the course. Lastly I recognized the exit button. Old reliable located usually in the top right and commonly red. The great thing about these patterns is the familiarity they provide for a learner, even if the learner has never taken the course before. They have seen these elements in usually the same locations in the prior experiences. The hindering aspect of these patterns is the stagnancy it creates in the design.
I decided to use the pattern commonly used for Apps. Most frequently thought of for Apple devices but widely used amongst other technologies. I believe that this pattern could have originated from a game such as the match game or how a deck of cards or blocks could have been laid out from our childhood.
With these new technologies learners have become again familiar with the way these patterns work and how to navigate them. Using this simple pattern can also lend for an un-linear learning experience. When a learner feels in control they are more likely to have increased engagement and retention. This pattern is not usually used in e-learning because the designers of the curriculum create the content to be consumed in a linear way. They fear that the learner will not see all the content being provided to them. However in the pattern I am presenting, each square(app) of content is easily accessed and will fade slightly after the user has viewed it. The other benefit to this pattern is depending on the content a learner could more easily return to the content and use it as a reference. Whereas when the content is locked down the user most click through to get to the information they wish to reference. I am a strong believer in keeping e-learning courses fresh, modern and updated. I believe that the pattern I presented not only lends several advantages to the learner but to the designer/maintainer of the curriculum. As a maintainer of content myself, I can't express enough the ease that this pattern would lend. When updating the content I could simply just address the block of content that has changed and not have to worry about the rest of it. There are benefits and disadvantages to patterns in adult learning or training. Although it utilizes familiarity with the learner it also produces redundancy.
