Web Evaluation Project
www.Udacity.com
Adina Efron
Emily Hovland
Elena Winzeler
Website:
www.udacity.com
Introduction:
Udacity is a MOOC (Massive Open Online Course) site that offers free courses online. Students can pay to take
a for-credit path, if they wish, though the content is the same for both options. Udacity offers 28 courses
covering computer science, design, genetics, physics, statistics, and science.
A MOOC presents many opportunities for analysis of the three I’s. Since the purpose of a MOOC is to provide
learning, organization of information is a top concern. How does the user obtain information needed to make
decisions about which courses to take? How is the information contained within the actual course revealed to
the student?
The interface of the site should be appealing and clearly laid out so the student can access critical features and
links. Are links and functions where one would expect them to be? Does the interface promote an emotional
connection? Is it flexible and easy to use?
Finally, as the student interacts with the site content, how easy is it to accomplish necessary tasks? How does
the student receive feedback in response to his or her actions? With these questions in mind, we analyzed the
Udacity site from the point of view of a student user.
User Scenario:
We will explore the process of selecting, signing up for, and completing one module of a course on Udacity.
History and Background:
Founding and History
Udacity was formed by a group of three students at Stanford University--Sebastian Thrun, David Stavens, and
Mike Sokolosky--who had posted an Introduction to Artificial Intelligence course for free on the university’s
computer science website. In 2011, their course attracted 160,000 enrolled students. (The number of students
who completed the course is not available at this time.) The company was founded the same year, and was
funded by the venture capital firm Charles River Ventures as well as $300,000 of Thrun’s personal money. In
2012, Andreessen Horowitz invested another $15 million.
The company’s focus is on computer science and related fields. The first two courses were launched on
February 20, 2012: CS 101: Building a Search Engine and CS 373: Programming a Robotic Car. Four additional
courses were offered in April, followed by five in May, four in June, and Thrun’s original AI course was
relaunched in Udacity in November (www.udacity.com). In 2013, Udacity partnered with San Jose State
University to pilot three math courses that were available for college credit. Five more courses were added
before the partnership was suspended on July 18, 2013 after more than half the students failed their final
exams.
Each course is broken up into modules with closed-captioned video lectures accompanied by quizzes and
homework and graded by automated grading programs. All course lectures and problem sets are available
upon enrollment and the student can complete them at her own pace. Udacity has more than 700,000
students in over 200 countries, drawing 42% from the United States, 7% from India, and 5% from England.
CS101 students can take a 75-minute in-person proctored final exam, created by Pearson VUE, for an $89 fee;
students of the other courses receive a free certificate of completion that lists the student’s level of
achievement and is signed by the instructors.
Current Events and Future plans
In May of 2013, the Georgia Institute of Technology College of Computing announced it would partner with
Udacity and AT&T to provide the first professional Online Master of Science degree in computer science (OMS
CS) that can be earned entirely through the MOOC format. Total tuition for the program is expected to
approach $6,600, a fraction of the cost of a traditional on-campus master’s program. Initial enrollment will
involve around 300 students and is expected to gradually expand in the following years.
Georgia Tech will provide the content and professors, while Udacity offers the computer platform and course
assistants. The courses will follow the format standard to Udacity – short videos followed by problem sets and
quizzes – with additional support services available for students enrolled in the program such as tutoring and
online office hours. The courses will be freely available to all Udacity students, but only those admitted to the
Georgia Tech program will receive credit from that university on the basis of proctored exams.
Partnering with higher education institutions is a growth strategy that offers it prestige and an increased
market share, in addition to revenue generated. Another kind of partnership, however, displays a strategy
more directly related to the bottom line. Udacity’s new genetics course, “Tales from the Genome,” has been
developed in partnership with 23andMe, a DIY genetics testing service. On the course overview page,
23andMe is actually featured under the list of “instructors,” with the description focusing on their passion as
scientists, with no mention of it being a for-profit company. The What Will I Learn? section displays a typical
example of product placement, “By the end of this course, you will be able to read and understand genetic
information available from personal genetics services such as 23andMe”.
While I can understand how Udacity might need to seek corporate sponsorship to keeps its business model
viable, users might be turned off by product placement and blatant corporate ties. For these types of
partnerships to be successful, the company must maintain learners as its first priority, not corporate
sponsorship. Udacity’s appeal relies in its ability to engender trust in its users, and if it loses that trust by
appearing to place business above content, it may never recover its reputation. As Mike Cassidy of Silicon Beat
put it, “The day Hershey’s sponsors a massive online course that explains how massive amounts of milk
chocolate bars are good for you, we’ve got a problem.”
While Udacity’s courses are free to all, they do offer a few services for purchase. Udacity charges $150 to take
a course for credit, which will involve completion of a proctored exam. They also provide one-on-one online
tutoring help for a fee.
The newest courses for Udacity to offer include: Introduction to Programming in Java, Introduction to
Psychology, and Tales from the Genome. Courses in development include Mobile Web Development and The
Design of Everyday Things, taught by our own Don Norman.
The MOOC Context
Udacity offers only 28 courses divided into beginner, intermediate, and advanced levels, while the company
Coursera (www.coursera.org) offers around 450 courses. The focus of Udacity’s courses is mostly science,
math, computer science, and technology, while Coursera covers a broader range of subjects. The fact that
Udacity’s courses are self-paced rather than synchronous and scheduled, as in other MOOC services, makes
Udacity more attractive to people who are looking to gain knowledge and skills on their own terms.
Procedure:
We decided to analyze the site from the perspective of a user who wishes to sign up for a course and then
takes the course.
First, we examined our initial impressions of the site—how the layout and interface help the user learn about
Udacity, the courses it offers, how to sign up for an account, how to browse and choose a course, and how to
enroll in and begin a course.
Then, we went through the process of taking a course, including watching videos, taking quizzes, and tracking
progress.
Finally, we looked at some of the support features available to students—instructor notes, discussion forum,
and wiki. In addition, we considered some of the supplementary features that a user might enjoy using—blog,
career services, meetups, and settings/profile customization.
Criteria for Evaluation:
Information
Navigation
Motivation
Cognitive Load
Flexibility
Clarity
Emotional Appeal
Feedback
Understandability
Organization
X
X
X
X
Interface
X
X
X
Interaction
X
X
X
X
X
Who Did What:

Adina - Analyzed initial contact (interacting with home page, browsing courses, course overviews,
signing up for an account, enrolling in a class); compared Udacity to other MOOCs; Screencast 1

Elena - Analyzed process of taking course (watching videos, taking quizzes, viewing instructor notes,
wiki); investigated current events and future plans; Screencast 2

Emily - Analyzed supplementary features (blog, career services, meetups, settings/profile); discussed
Udacity history

Everyone - Devised criteria, identified concepts applicable to site evaluation
Initial Contact
Home Page
The home page demonstrates navigational clarity (info) in presenting information. The top header bar
includes four options: “How It Works,” “Course Catalog,” “Sign In,” and “Sign Up.” These options are selfexplanatory and easy to access.
The body of the page includes a grid of equals—four beginner courses, four intermediate courses, and four
advanced courses. Each “square” of the grid includes a screenshot of the course with the name of the course
below it. If the user wishes to view all of the courses in each level, he can click on “View all” in the upper right
area of the row.
Clear navigation
Grid of equals
The visual aesthetics (interface) of the home page are very appealing. The dark teal header and left-aligned
logo and tagline form the top area, with the grid of equals forming the middle body of the page. Below the
grid of equals, recent links from the Udacity Blog occupy the left side; to the right is an area for testimonials. A
new testimonial automatically refreshes in that area, adding an element of surprise and randomness. Overall,
the color scheme is consistent across the site, the blog, and the course interface.
Generous white space
Grid of
equals
Latest blog
links
Testimonials are
refreshed every few
seconds
Sitemap footer
The sitemap footer provides navigational clarity by giving another quick way for the user to access the
information presented in the site.
The cognitive load (information) is low when you first access the homepage. The user is presented with just
enough information to become acquainted with the content and the purpose of the site. As the user drills
down deeper into the fully-connected navigational pattern, he can learn specifics of the course and how the
site works.
The homepage has high scannability (information, interface). The user can quickly scan the site and
determine where to click in order to get basic information.
Browse Courses
Flexibility (interaction): The browsing features offer the user flexibility (interaction) as she looks for a course
to take. A user can browse course through a variety of ways—home page grid; view all; Course Catalog link in
the header. Once in the Course Catalog page, the user continues to have different ways of viewing the
courses. (“What’s hot” at the top of the page; browsing through drop down; viewing the entire course catalog
vertically arranged below the drop down menu).
The carousel in the Course Catalog page is visually pleasing (interface) and allows the user to view some of
the courses available. The courses are titled “What’s Hot,” which is a Content Leaderboard according to
Tidwell. Unfortunately, the user does not know why the courses are “hot” (most signed up for, most
completed, most shared?).
Flexible browsing…
#1 Carousel
#2 Filter through drop down menu
#3 Read list
Many of the photo screenshots that accompany course descriptions feature human faces, which creates a
human/emotional dimension (interface). The use of photos of people highlights the fact that there will be an
actual teacher guiding you through the material and establishes a human connection.
It is worth noting that Udacity lacks a search tool. In terms of finding courses, a search tool is probably not
necessary since there aren’t many courses offered. Perhaps the site designers are encouraging users to
browse and explore, possibly stumble upon a course that they didn’t anticipate taking. The rest of the site is
clearly organized, so a search tool may not be necessary. The sitemap footer provides another way to find
information, so the site designers probably assume the current features are sufficient. In the future, if the
number of courses increases, then a dedicated search tool may be needed.
Human face
establishes human
connection
Course Overview
After clicking on a course, the user is taken to a course overview page. The top-left section of this page
includes an introductory video, which is fairly large and takes up a good portion of the user’s view. The video
features a friendly instructor who explains the significance of the course. The use of video establishes an
emotional connection and primes the user to become engaged with the content, thus motivating the user to
want to take the class and learn the content. Including video adds emotional appeal to the interface.
To the right of the video is a high-level overview that indicates level and instructor name. That appealing
orange “Take the Class” button appears as well. The user is given the flexibility (interaction) to watch the
video in full, watch the video partially, or completely skip the video and click the orange button.
The lower part of the course overview page includes chunks of information that are relevant to a prospective
student. This section takes advantage of information hierarchy to present the most salient information a user
would want to know before starting the course (summary, what they should know, what they will learn).
Below those important chunks are a syllabus and FAQ.
One could argue that the course overview provides as much information as a user could possibly want or need
before commencing the course.
Video engages user
Basic
overview of
course
Press the
shiny orange
button!
Human face
establishes
connection
Sign Up/Login
Navigational clarity (interaction):
It’s easy to find the Sign In/Sign Up links in the upper right hand corner. They are where you would expect
them to be—they conform to expectations (interaction) and they work like you would expect them to.
Tidwell calls this pattern a “convention.” The Sign In/Sign Up links also contribute to the navigational clarity
(interaction) of the site.
When you click on the Sign Up or Login link, a box with fields appears. The user can click out of the box at any
time, giving the user control (interaction). Tidwell refers to this navigational pattern as an escape hatch.
Another benefit of the Sign Up/Login links is that they don’t take the user to another page that must load,
lending navigational efficiency (interaction).
Select a Course
Once you’ve chosen a course to take, navigational clarity (interaction) assists the user in enrolling in the
course. The button you press to take action (“Take the Class”) is orange; most of the site is white/neutral, so
the orange helps the user quickly find the right button.
PRESS THE ORANGE
BUTTON! DO IT! DO IT
NOW!!!
Main Course Page and Dashboard
User Dashboard
Once you’ve signed in to your account, all you have to do is click on My Courses in the upper right-hand corner
to get to your dashboard. It contains a list that includes the title of each of your courses, a progress bar, and
an eye-catching orange button to resume the course. The dashboard is not personalizable, but it does offer
progressive disclosure (interaction). By clicking on the details button, you can see a full syllabus for the course
and links to other content areas including the overview, discussion forum, and instructor notes. The full
connectivity of the dashboard allows the user complete freedom to determine where to enter the course.
Clicking on either the title or the Resume button will take you to the first video after the last one you
completed in the previous session. This degree of personalization makes it easy and painless for the learner to
reenter the site at any time, which is conducive to the Microbreaks pattern discussed by Tidwell (p. 16). While
one might not think of microbreaking as an effective strategy for learning complex material, the pattern fits
into Udacity’s redefinition of higher education as something accessible, enjoyable, and not onerous. They are
trying to create an educational product that fits into, and in fact celebrates today’s internet culture.
Main Course Page
The interface is minimalist, maintain the same aesthetics as other pages, contributing to branding. The titles of
the course, lesson, and video within the lesson are all clearly labeled and prominently placed (information &
interface). The lesson title contains a drop-down menu for navigation among the lessons. The video takes up
the majority of the screen, and its aesthetics are closely matched with the course site. For instance, the white
background blends in with the background of the page, increasing white space (cognitive load—interface).
A prominent feature of the page is the progress bar, which is both motivational and informative (interface).
Each video is represented by a separate block, and is color-coded to indicate whether it is currently playing,
has already been viewed, or has not been viewed (clarity-interface). A small dot in the block indicates a quiz.
Rollover help provides the name of each video, thus keeping the interface clean but also providing additional
information when desired.
The course page offers multi-level navigation. Within a lesson, you can navigate anywhere in 1 click by way of
the progress bar. To navigate to a specific video within a different lesson, you need 2 clicks, but considering
the depth of content, this seems a reasonable accommodation. In this way, the navigation offers flexibility
(interaction) for the user who places a priority on controlling their experience. Yet, with the setting for
automatic progression and the linear organization of the course content, the design clearly suggests a path for
how to navigate the course. So, for the user who wants to “stay the course,” the navigation provides clarity
and reduced cognitive load (interaction).
Drop down menu allows
navigation between lessons
Multifunctional
progress bar:
1) Indicates with
specificity the
learner’s
progress
2) motivates the
learner to
continue
3) allows 1-click
navigation
within a lesson.
Videos and Quizzes
The videos are short, typically no more than two minutes long, reducing cognitive load (information). The
brevity of the individual videos is consistent with the microbreaks style of learning discussed in Tidwell (p. 16).
It also contributes to the learner’s motivation to finish a video. As Weinschenk noted, people are more
motivated as they get closer to reaching a goal (p. 116). Udacity’s content delivery style provides many shortterm goals, with a constant cycle of small rewards as the learners feel gratification each time a video is
completed. The videos also are set to advance automatically, meaning that the learner very easily gets sucked
into a feedback loop with the site. This is essential to the motivational effect of the videos (information &
interaction).
Video controls the
same as YouTube
The quizzes have only one question per page and are directly relevant to the proceeding video. They serve as
comprehension checks and place a low cognitive load on viewers. Answer formats are either multiple choice
or short answer. With multiple choice questions, feedback is provided based on the answer and when
incorrect the user is prompted to try again. At any time the user has the option to skip to a video explanation
of the answer. With short answer questions, there is no personalized feedback, but a video explanation is still
provided. All of these feedback features together contribute to the feeling of understandability and
motivation experienced by the user (information).
Easy to
interact
Feedback
depends on
your answer
Flexible
options
for user
Instructor Notes
This section is where an instructor will provide links to help documents related to the course, much like a
typical course handout. This provides some features of permanence that the student can reference at any
time, again contributing to understandability of the content (information). This section is not always used by
the instructor, which increases the likelihood that if a document it posted the user will find it important
enough to choose to access it.
Discussion Forum
If there is a discussion specific to a video, it will be featured in this space. At all times, the options to see all of
the discussion questions and submit your own question are present. This section is covered in more detail
below.
Additional Features
Blog
The Udacity Blog has a lot of social interaction (interaction and interface) to engage both the novice and
veteran Udacian. For instance, there are Coffee Break videos where very important people are interviewed.
Coffee Break Episode 21 shows a video of a Udacity product manager discussing an object she considers to be
well designed (http://blog.udacity.com/search/label/Courses); this is an advertisement for the new Norman
course--The Design of Everyday Things.
There is also a Contest section where 3D animators, game designers, app makers, etc. can upload their
graphics. Then the Udacity users get to vote. There is no prize, but there is glory, including the ability to post
your accomplishment on LinkedIn http://blog.udacity.com/search/label/Contests%2FCompetition. This adds
to the entertainment factor (interface).
There is emotional appeal in both the interaction and the interface, so you feel
motivated to be continue, and become part of the non-competitive group (Tidwell
and Weinschenk)
Next to the blog, at the bottom right, there is also a cluster of photos of 50,000 Facebook users who “like”
Udacity that you can instantly connect with, should you choose to do so. This adds to the emotional appeal
(interface), since the photos are often closeups of people’s faces, but it also adds to the social interaction
(interaction), since you can actually become their social media friend and communicate with them directly.
There are also several blog posts that contain text interviews and photos of the company’s new hires. This
type of emotional appeal (interface) is especially important to the new user who is getting to know the site
and the brand. According to Tidwell (C9) and Weinschenk (p.144-163), people are more motivated when they
perceive themselves to be part of a larger group, especially a group that is not overly competitive
(Weinschenk, p. 141).
The blog conforms to one’s expectations. It is easy to scroll down through it and click links to open videos, etc.
This is in line with habituation (interaction, interface, and information). There is also visual clarity and
scanability (information). You know where to find information because it is where you expect to see it: the
bottom right of the blog has the blog categories, the bottom center contains the blog entries, and you can see
where to find more of what you’re looking for. There is also an information hierarchy—the most recent
information is at the top (information).
Discussion Forum
The discussion in the forum seemed relatively active, but not very monitored. For instance, content that was
not absolutely relevant was left on there without comment from a moderator. This is a different experience
than what you might get from an Adobe user group, for instance, which always has a moderator nearby. But
the presence of the Forum is good because it provides necessary homework assistance and feedback
(interaction). Nonetheless, the discussion forum does allow user control (interactivity) when posting the
question because you can enable or disable a preview of your question in HTML.
User control: you can choose active, hottest, unanswered, etc.
Navigational clarity and habituation: You can easily find what
you’re looking for because it’s where you expect it to be!
In the discussion forum, you can organize according to oldest, newest, most voted, and active answers. This
allows for information hierarchy (information) as well as user control (interface, information). The default is
that the newest posts would be at the top, in chronological order, or what Tidwell calls the NewsBox pattern
(p.398) The forums are searchable and there is considerable navigational clarity (information). This allows
access to a wealth of knowledge because many users have come before to ask similar questions.
Career Services
The latest push is to have people put their course degrees and contest winnings on their Linked In accounts.
This is very social (interactive) and is motivational to the students.
The blog also has an interview about career advice with Steve Huffman, a cocreator of the Udacity Web
Development course, as well as the founder and cocreator of Redditt and then Hipmunk, a travel site.
According to Weinschenk, p. 177, “people use look and feel as their first indicator of trust.” This famous
person in the tech world adds to the branding of the website and the product.
The tech celebrity in the Coffee Chat
contributes to the trust of the brand, the
emotional appeal, and the social
interaction.
The blog also has profiles about successful Udacians who have gotten internships at Google, developed apps
for using public transportation in Egypt, etc. This ties into Weinschenk’s concept that “anecdotes persuade
more than data,” p. 168. These stories also offer emotional appeal to the user and motivate the learner.
Meetups
The meetups seem to be most active in California. The last one that seems to have taken place in Austin, Texas
on September 12, 2012. There are currently 28 Udacians active in Austin. (There are 409 in Kuyampattur, India
and 495 in Palo Alto, CA.) To become an active Udacian in your city, you must register on a separate website
called Meetup. These in-person meetups work well for online users, especially if there is a moderator for each
city to remind people of upcoming events, provide help, and offer encouragement. Craigslist has been having
in person meetups and parties since 1995, and Yelp often has meetups so that the most proficient users can
meet in person. The same would work well for Udacity, especially if you consider a graphic design course
where people encourage each other to build their portfolios, for instance, or need help trouble shooting their
programming code. This serves to motivate students and provide social interaction and personalization
(interaction).
There is something called Homework Help that takes place in Google’s offices (a Udacity partner), and it is
basically an hour of three instructors chatting. There is no homework help in reality--just an open forum with
questions from the audience. Actual students can show up to the event, and do. There are blog posts to
remind the users about the events, which offers feedback and support (interactive).
Settings/Profile
The Profile section adds humor. It shows a little robot icon in the place where your photo should go, for
instance. This is preferable to the grayed out silhouette you might see on Linked In, Facebook, etc. if someone
has not added a photo. The text is also somewhat humorous, or at least less formal. For instance, it says
“What do you do?” in gray font next to the “Occupation” section in bold, black text. There is similar
explanatory, yet extraneous, text that helps the user make it through the Profile form in a more friendly way.
This offers entertainment and emotional appeal (interface).
The profile section also has a progress indicator that tells you how complete your registration is and allows
you to add your photo, website, linked in profile, bio, resume, etc. This is invaluable feedback (interaction and
information).
There is emotional appeal because the text and images are humorous. The robot is cute
compared to the grayed out one on Linked In, and the text is fun and informal.
The Settings section is pretty simple and clean. Only the critical information is on there. There are only four
choices, and they have to do with video quality, speed, auto advance, and player settings.
The navigational clarity makes for an enjoyable aesthetic experience
(interface, interaction) and is also efficient.
The Account section lets you change your name, password, and your subscription to Udacity’s automated
emails. This is easy to navigate and change, which is invaluable in the online arena. This level of
personalization (information) and navigational efficiency (interface) is useful.
Conclusions
What are interesting things you have learned from your research that provide a glimpse of what makes this
company/organization/university ‘successful’?
In the case of Udacity, success can be defined as attracting users and attracting sponsors. The latter has a
direct effect on the company’s finances, while the former influences the latter. Many of Udacity’s branding
strategies contribute to its success in attracting users. It has carved itself a niche in the technology/science
world and this reputation gives it a special place among MOOCs. It promulgates this reputation by promoting
the celebrity of its founders and contributors, as well as recruiting well-known figures, such as Don Norman, to
the organization.
For those users outside of the technology field, its main success lies in the course design. Udacity is unique
among the most successful MOOCs in its commitment to maximum flexibility in learning; there are no time
constraints associated with its courses. This feature is likely to attract some users while repelling others, but
there is no doubt it contributes to the site’s unique culture. In addition, Udacity excels in taking college-level
course material and making it accessible, understandable, and non-intimidating, thus broadening its appeal
beyond its narrow “techy” base.
The founders of Udacity appear to be aggressive in cultivating partnerships with universities and for-profit
companies. It’s partnerships with San Jose State and Georgia Tech can be seen to enhance both its reputation
and its bottom line, while ties with businesses such as AT&T and 23andMe lean more toward the pragmatic. In
either case, as a non-profit that offers its services for free, Udacity needs such outside sponsorship to survive
and expand its usership.
Based upon your experience as a user, what aspect(s) of site is most useful in accomplishing your task(s) and
why?
We noticed that navigational clarity was a major characteristic that made accomplishing our tasks easy. The
various links and functions were easy to find because they were located where we expected them to be. The
multi-level connected architecture of the site allowed for speedy, efficient navigation (the main components
of the site are fully connected, with course content and deeper information located on spokes sprouting from
the main components). The navigation afforded flexibility, as well. The site designers thoughtfully provided
different paths to reaching the same destination (e.g., three different ways of browsing courses).
Another prominent aspect of the site was a low initial cognitive load. The purpose of the site is educational,
and many of the topics are complex and not easily grasped. The fact that the user is gradually eased into the
content was a benefit. The user must navigate deeper into the site in order to obtain more information, and
the courses are designed to gradually unfold.
The Udacity site provides a unique level of personal and human connection. Students can form personal
connections with their instructors through forums and synchronous streaming sessions. There are several
instances of humor throughout the site (in the settings, explanations, personal profile), helping to maintain a
positive emotional connection.
Finally, Udacity works to fulfill its purpose as an educational site by striving to motivate users to complete
courses--and ultimately learn. The interface includes visually appealing progress bars during the course and in
the user’s personal profile, exploiting the information-seeking dopamine neurotransmitter. Short lessons can
be completed quickly, creating a feedback loop in which the user seeks the satisfaction of completing a lesson
and then begins another lesson to chase that knowledge-acquisition high! Visible progress monitoring through
a graphic progress bar as well as chunking of material into easily consumed bites result in sustained
motivation.
What aspect(s) of the site are well-designed and why?
First of all, we felt that the Udacity website was well designed from an aesthetic standpoint. The entire
interface was visually pleasing, with lots of white space, a modern font (Klara) and lots of high-resolution,
closeup photos of the professors. All the features, including the quizzes, forum, blog, etc. matched each other
when it came to the white space and high-quality images. Furthermore, there was an emotional appeal, since
there were numerous photos and videos of people, making one feel part of a larger online learning
community. Also, the loading bars were accompanied by silly text that made the entire interaction seem more
fun than the standard website experience.
Also, the navigational clarity was consistent throughout the site. This meant that it was easy to quickly find
information. The arrangement of items throughout the website conformed to our expectations: the pull-down
menus behaved as we expected them to behave; the sitemap footer was located where we expected it to be;
the sign in section was at the top right, etc. This also helped with scannability; when we needed to find
something quickly on the first day we used the site, we found it without cognitive strain. This helped
immensely when it came to having a positive initial interaction with the website. There was also consistent
branding across the different sections of the Udacity website; the blog, the videos in the course, the forum,
and the home page all looked as if they were created by the same design team. When signed up as a student
in a Udacity course, it is very easy to progress through the course. We felt that the addition of multiple
progress indicators helped to motivate us as learners. Also, the brief videos followed by quizzes helped to
reinforce what we learned, offering a low cognitive load for all levels of students. There was also a way for the
more experienced user to skip over what she already knew and proceed to the quiz at the end of the section
or the exam at the end of the course. As a busy student, this is invaluable, and is one of the many benefits of
online learning that could never be experienced in a real-world course. The course material was well
sequenced, and in the Statistics course, there was a video lecture followed by a quiz and then the sections
were broken up by real-world scenarios where the statisticians interviewed the public.
Finally, the interaction of the site was well designed. The navigation was flexible. One could sort the questions
in the forum according to answered, hottest, most recent, etc. The user had some control over her interactive
experience with the course’s features. And one could change one’s public settings to make it so that one had a
different profile picture, user name, etc.
Links/Resources
https://www.coursera.org
http://www.dukechronicle.com/articles/2013/09/27/faculty-members-share-experiences-moocs
http://www.thefiscaltimes.com/Articles/2013/08/30/In-Higher-Education-a-Low-Tolerance-for-MOOCs
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/04/education/edlife/the-big-three-mooc-providers.html?_r=0
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/26/technology/personaltech/a-surge-in-growth-for-a-new-kind-of-onlinecourse.html?pagewanted=2&_r=0
http://www.skilledup.com/blog/the-best-mooc-provider-a-review-of-coursera-udacity-and-edx/
http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/georgia-tech-announces-massive-online-masters-degree-incomputer-science-207463221.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/18/education/masters-degree-is-new-frontier-of-studyonline.html?pagewanted=1
http://www.siliconbeat.com/2013/09/30/23andme-and-udacity-partnership-raises-questions-about-thefuture-of-moocs/