Why People Can't Use eLearning

The US eLearning market has a projected value of $11.5 billion by 2003 while the European market is expected to be worth $4 billion by 2004. However, poor usability will contribute to disappointing results for many eLearning companies.

Unusable interfaces will cost eLearning companies billions of dollars in lost revenues because many people won't be able to use their products.

The US eLearning market has a projected value of $11.5 billion by 2003 while the European market is expected to be worth $4 billion by 2004. However, poor usability will contribute to disappointing results for many eLearning companies, for the following reasons:

• Failure to create lasting competitive advantage in a crowded and competitive marketplace.
• Failure to develop ongoing customer loyalty. Despite the trend towards lifelong learning people will be reluctant to continually return to services which they find difficult to use.
• Exclusion of a major user group. In the USA, 8% of the US population has visual, learning, cognitive, auditory or physical dexterity disabilities severe enough to affect their ability to access the web. In Europe, the figure is 11% and is expected to reach 18% by 2020. These people control $175 billion in discretionary income.
• Difficulty in supplying government agencies and public bodies worldwide. Companies who do not provide interfaces which are accessible to people with impairments or disabilities will be unable to sell to this market. Relevant legislation is already in place in the US and the UK.
• Potential risk of legal actions, similar to those taken against the organisers of the Sydney Olympics and AOL because they did not provide accessible interfaces.

This paper discusses how eLearning can deploy practical usability techniques in interface design to help overcome these issues. Usability is all about making software, websites and online applications or services easy for everyone to use, including people with visual, motor, cognitive or hearing impairments.

This paper provides eLearning developers with:

• Practical examples of usability problems with some eLearning products
• A discussion of important usability considerations for eLearning
• Guidelines on avoiding these problems
• Useful resources on usability and accessibility

Download this whitepaper - Why People Can't Use eLearning - PDF 335KB

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