Page 95 - Educational Technology A Primer for the 21st Century

84 5 Users Perspective of Educational Technology

Table 5.2 Difference between users and learners
Professional users Learners
High expertise in the task domain Low expertise in the task domain
Homogenous population Diverse population
Higher motivation to engage in their tasks Lower motivation to engage in their tasks
Little change in users Learner develop and grow and they learn
Design of their tools should primarily Design of their tools should primarily address
address gulfs between user and tool (i.e., gulfs between their knowledge and knowledge
gulfs of execution and expertise) of an expert in the task domain

the user. They have neither the expertise of the work area nor the understanding
of specific tasks of a professional counterpart.
• Users are homogeneous. They are engaged in specific work activities and share
the same work culture, so they can be considered homogenous in some
meaningful ways (Soloway et al., 1996). Learners are heterogeneous. They may
not share a common culture, background, or understanding, so designers must
consider the differences in the background, the diversity of learning styles, and
other kinds of varieties of the learners’ groups.
• Users, by the nature of involvement in their work tasks, often have intrinsic
motivations for their work, and tools do not have to provide any additional
motivational incentives (Soloway et al., 1994). However, learners’ intrinsic
motivations may differ from those of experts. Besides, because learners lack
understanding of the work area, they may face more obstacles in completing the
task at hand, thereby reducing their motivation even more.
• Users do not necessarily need to learn about their work from the tools. Instead,
they need tools to help them finish their work. However, learners should learn
when they engage in a new field of work by using educational software. So their
tools, just as the learners themselves, (i.e., their windows in the field of work)
need to grow and change.
• User-centered design should address the conceptual distance between computer
users and the computer (Norman & Draper, 1986). However, the
learner-centered design should focus on the gulf of expertise that lies between
novice learner and an expert in the knowledge domain.

So, if we putting learners at the center of the product design, the special needs of
learners must be considered (Soloway et al., 1994):

1. Understanding is the Goal. When design the educational software, keep in
mind that learners do not have the basic knowledge and skill in specific work
domains. For example, they will not know the accounting principles or practices
when a spreadsheet is presented to them. How will they learn to use that
spreadsheet must be considered in the design process?
2. Motivation is the Basis. We cannot count on the motivation of learners.
Remember that both students and professionals have a strong tendency to fritter