The 2004 Industry Report [2] claims that more than 70% of e-learning packages in training organizations involve standalone eLearning, in which the training event happens between the student and the computer. Today's regressive economy impacts training budges negatively. Consequently, standalone eLearning is considered a viable solution to performance improvement. The problem addressed in this tutorial is that in the field of eLearning, there are no practical and concise guidelines/checklists that help us design and evaluate the effectiveness of eLearning interfaces. How do we know that an eLearning package we complete is designed well? Most current guidelines refer to generic Web design principles but hardly mention those design elements that are conducive to learning online. This tutorial unique content focuses on a concise, practical checklist that identifies three key elements known to assure smart eLearning interfaces: site architecture, content presentation, and instructional design elements.

Given that today's most cost effective and frequently demanded type of eLearning is in the form of standalone Web-based training [2], our industry desperately needs solid guidelines that help us develop and evaluate effective, smart eLearning interfaces. The purpose of this highly interactive and entirely practical tutorial is to teach participants how to a single, practical, and concise checklist that will help them either develop or evaluate eLearning interfaces used in standalone online instruction.

The methodology and guidelines demonstrated in this tutorial spring from the presenter's extensive experience of developing more than 500 eLearning programs for one of the largest telecommunications companies in the world and on her intense academic research completed during doctorial studies and daily job responsibilities.

The novelty of the tutorial rests on the following facts:

• Participants will be able to answer questions frequently asked in the eLearning field: "How do I know whether an eLearning interface is designed intelligently and it is conducive to learning? What design elements lead to smart eLearning design? Is there a single, practical tool that I can use to help me design/evaluate eLearning interfaces?"
• Participants will have the opportunity to review a multitude of eLearning interfaces that have been collected from real-life applications.
• Most tutorials related to smart interface design refer to generic Web site design (e.g., navigational principles, font types, graphic design, etc.). The collection of screen samples and design guidelines presented in this tutorial refer strictly to eLearning interfaces and instructional design principles as they apply to online training design.
• Participants will walk away with a single repository of principles for smart eLearning design, which is unique for the eLearning field because designers are often faced with a multitude of resources that are either too broad in scope, not related specifically to eLearning, or too lengthy, overwhelming, impractical, or irrelevant to one's job.

This tutorial is intended for training managers, instructional designers, course developers, as well as any adult educator who has experience developing conventional classroom training and would like to learn about intelligent and effective online instruction. Others who might benefit from this workshop are technical writers, usability testers, and graphic artists who work within a training organization.

The purpose of this tutorial is to teach participants how to develop and evaluate smart eLearning interfaces. Upon completion of this tutorial, participants will be able to:

• Identify key elements that contribute to smart eLearning design.
• Recognize optimal site architecture for an eLearning product.
• Present content (text, graphics, animation, audio, and video) in an eLearning product such that students' experience is enhanced.
• Recognize effective instructional and interactive elements (e.g., practice exercises, simulations, games, etc.)

• 00.00 - 00.15. Introduction, objectives, and outcomes
• 00.15 - 01.00. Overview of the checklist for producing/evaluating eLearning interfaces
• 01.00 - 02.00. Review of eLearning samples. Emphasis on site architecture and content presentation
• 01.30 - 02.00. Break and informal discussion
• 02.00 - 03.00. Review of eLearning samples. Emphasis on instructional design elements as they apply to eLearning design
• 03.00 - 03.30. Q&A session, offering participants the opportunity to ask questions about the checklist, review additional eLearning design elements, or inquire about the practicality of the guidelines included in the checklist.

For the past eight years, the presenter has been working for SBC Communications, one of the largest telecommunications companies in the world. SBC Communications employs over 200,000 workers, located over 17 states in the USA and 13 countries around the world. The SBC Corporate Training Department employs over 150 course designers, training managers, programmers, and performance consultants. The presenter's responsibilities within SBC's Training Department include:

• Production of online courseware using a variety of authoring tools (Authorware, Dreamweaver, Flash, Photoshop, etc,) and programming languages (DHTML, JavaScript, and ColdFusion). SBC publishes at least 300 eLearning courses annually for a population of over 200,000 employees.
• Teaching workshops enterprise-wide regarding Web design principles, instructional design theory for online training, use of course authoring tools, and programming languages for eLearning development.
• Consulting and troubleshooting services provided to other designers enterprise-wide, regarding the production of effective online courseware.
• Development of templates, models, and standards for the production of e-learning courses company-wide.
• Research and development of new processes, tools, and technology related to effective eLearning production.
• Publish articles in a quarterly Distance Education, peer-reviewed journal. Published a book called Standalone Web-based Training .

[1] Gerhardt-Lynch, P.J., & Horton, S. (1997). Web Style Guide: Basic Design Principles for Creating Web Sites. New Haven , CT : Yale University Press.

Figure 1

1. The screen title is too long. Also, research shows that capital letters for long titles are difficult to read. [1]
2. The design of the Exit button should be the same as the others in the navigation menu.
3. Designers should avoid one bullet lists.
4. The paragraph is too long. Research shows that the effective length for online content display is 10-12 words per line, 6 lines per paragraph, and 1 idea per paragraph.
5. The 14 sections in this eLearning lesson indicate that the information has not been organized properly. The effective number of topics should be 7+/-2.

Figure 2

1. The menu should be called Module Menu and the title of the course should be above.
2. Module title is inconsistent with the label in the navigation menu.
3. Poor and inaccurate wording.
4. The instructions do not inform users what to do within the simulations.
5. The navigation buttons in the simulation are the same as the ones in the courseware.
6. There is no screen ID, which is typically displayed between the Next and Previous buttons.

Figure 3

1. The instructions are redundant. If users are to select a response (singular), there is no need to tell them that a "single response is required".
2. Test questions should be stated as a question rather than as an incomplete statement. In addition, the blank line is a reminder of paper-based tests.
3. The four choices are not similar in length (the longest choice is typically the correct answer) and they are not plausible (None of the above is very unlikely to be a correct answer). These drawbacks increase the amount of guessing.
4. The feedback is too abrupt and does not instruct the user what to do next.
5. Screen 2 of 49 suggests that there are at least 48 questions in this test, which is too many for an evaluation environment (best to divide this into multiple mini-tests). The screen ID should also be displayed next to the Next and Back buttons.