Lost in Interaction in IMS Learning Design Runtime Environments

Educators are exploiting the advantages of advanced web-based collaboration technologies and massive online interactions. Interactions between learners and human or nonhuman resources therefore play an increasingly important pedagogical role, and the way these interactions are expressed in the user interface of virtual learning environments is assumed to greatly impact the learning process. This paper presents an evaluation of how interactions for learning are expressed in the user interface of an IMS Learning Design (LD) runtime environment. Specifically, we selected Reigeluth and Moore's set of interactions for learning was selected and tested how these interactions are visually expressed and supported in the user interface of the Service Based Learning Design (SLeD) player. The findings show several drawbacks in the current way of visualizing units of learning during runtime. For instance, the synchronization of participants in corresponding learning and support activities is not clearly expressed, the current role remains unclear in multi-role settings, and the nested display of unit-of-learning contents impedes navigation. Drawing from these findings, the paper offers recommendations regarding future development of IMS LD runtime user interfaces.