I’ve done courses on edX, Coursera, Udemy, Moodle, and Blackboard (the latter two platforms weren’t MOOCs, but adding for completeness).
While it’s honest opinion time, here are the things that have caused the most frustration for me:
- Inefficiency in the user interfaces: when simple things are difficult to find, require too many clicks to operate, or too much scrolling. I shouldn’t need to click through multiple ‘helpful’ interfaces to upload a file in an assignment, or click all the blocks on the page to expand each content section.
- Slowness. Nothing breaks flow more than getting frustrated waiting for a page to load.
- Unecessary animations. IMHO, animations should only exist to aid in drawing attention to something blocking (eg. flashing a invalid form field when trying to submit) or to give awareness of a transition (eg. scrolling down, expanding a box, etc.). But even then, these animations should be as quick as practical to not get in your way. I’ve used interfaces where switching between sections on the same page takes several seconds while it animates closing the current section, scrolling to the top of the page, scrolling to the selected section, animates opening the section, scrolling to the top of the now opened section content…
- Modals. Modals are to be used when the page is in a state where nothing else can happen until the user makes a decision that the modal is presenting. Using modals for notifications, useful information, etc. just results in annoyance and develops the reflex to just click ok on every modal that pops up.
- “Smart”. I don’t want a smart interface. I want a dumb, consistent interface. No autoplay, no popups, no clickjacking, no arcane icons, no scroll hijacking. Yes to consistency, standard icons, predictable scrolling.
- Too much gamification. I’m here to learn a topic, not collect a million badges or points.
Personally, I get motivation from seeing my progress in a course, rather than other virtual rewards.
Now for some positivity! Things I love to see/use in platforms:
- When the platform gets out of the way. I’m here to find a course and learn something in that course. I’m not here to click buttons, watch animations, or spend hours looking for the right option in a busy interface. I don’t want to see fancy icons taking up the space, when I could be seeing an estimate of how long the activity will take for example. The learning experience and content should be front and centre, in a clear and predictable way.
- When I get instant feedback. Click a quiz multiple choice answer or submit a text answer and instantly see if correct or not.
- Clear presentation of current progress. I think Coursera does this particularly well these days - every activity and content item has a complete/incomplete markings. When this is done well, I can open the course page and instantly find the next item I need to look at.
- Easy to understand grades view. Similar to the previous point; it’s great when I can find an overview of grades, assignments remaining, etc.
- Discussion forums. Online courses with forums immediately have a community feel, and provide a place to provide feedback, ask questions, discuss topics, etc.
- Clear presentation of content. Well laid out content, readable typography, nothing hidden behind more clicks, etc.
Ok I forgot to answer the original questions - I’ll write the first things that come to mind:
Which is your favourite online learning platform and why? (I’ve added a list below for some inspiration)
Out of the ones I’ve used, probably Coursera. I think I’ve enjoyed it mainly because it really does get out of the way.
For example (source):
Here I can see the topics, estimated time required to cover the content, required assignments and due dates. No noise.
What do you wish online learning platforms would do better when it comes to their user experience?
Performance. The faster pages load and render, the less interruptions, and the more flow.
If you had to name the feature that you find most useful in a learning platform, what would it be?
Course content with progress tracking. The two things that a learning platform does that is difficult to do by self study is curate and present the content, and let you track your progress through it. Without that, it’s no different to reading a textbook by yourself, or aimlessly browsing web tutorials.
Is there anything else you’d like to mention about your online learning journey?
Look, learning is hard, designing platforms is hard, designing courses is hard. And yet there are still many amazing platforms and courses, that come together to make learning relatively easy. And that’s why I have taken many MOOCs and paid online courses over the years.
Hope this is somewhat useful; it kind of turned into a disjointed set of thoughts. Some of the things I’ve written apply more to actual course content or the underlying platform rather than theming though. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯