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Dorian Peters

CoCo Research Centre
Education Building, A35
University of Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia
d.peters@edfac.usyd.edu.au

I work as combination multimedia designer, communication designer and project coordinator for CoCo and the Faculty of Education and Social Work. I design online learning modules and software interfaces, create marketing materials, websites, and coordinate internal projects like the development of the Master of Learning Science and Technology program and short courses.

Previously, as an instructional designer for Savv-e, pty ltd, I designed corporate elearning programs including a program for Westpac which won an AITD award for Excellence in Learning Design. The program, which included video simulations for handling customer complaints, was also featured in the Sydney Morning Herald and the Melbourne Age. I was a founding member of the Elearning Network of Australasia (ElNet), and sit on the steering committee for the Special Interest Group in elearning Research in Higher Education (SIG-HERE)

Before moving into elearning, I designed websites and multimedia content in the US, Argentina and Australia. [If you happen to have one of the limited edition copies of John Farnham's "The Last Time" album, you'll have the multimedia program I did for BMG music for this enhanced CD.]

I moved to Sydney from my hometown, Los Angeles, in 2001 (it really is more fun in Sydney). I received a Masters in Multimedia Design from the University of Sydney and a Bachelor's in Writing and Film Directing from Carnegie Mellon University in the U.S.

Professional Interests

Visual design of elearning (see my designer elearning blog), Multimedia design, web design, communication design, instructional design, usability, interface design, information architecture, accessibility, film, video, new media (and old media).

Projects and interests

User Interface Design for Learning Software

SUMO is the faculty's in-house developed unit of study management system. I developed both identity and user interface for SUMO which have been extremely well received for simplicity and ease of use. Congrats to the whole ICT team as SUMO has since won a Vice-Chancellor award for Systems that Achieve Collective Excellence in Teaching and Learning for 2009.

Snooker: I created a revamped interface design for "Snooker" - the synchronous collaboration and knowledge-building environment we use at CoCo.

Beehive: I completed enhancements and two screencasts for the GUI of Beehive - a system for collaboration activities based on Educational Design Patterns.

Sakai: While in Cambridge in June 2006, I had the opportunity to work on a project for CARET (the Centre for Advanced Research in Educational Technologies), to design a more user-friendly and inviting interface for the popular Sakai Collaboration and Learning Management system in use at the University. You can view the work log and download the resulting 'Amistad' skin online.

.LRN: After attending the open software forum in Madrid, I accepted an invitation from the .LRN consortium to redesign the graphical user interface of this popular open source learning and community Management System .LRN (pronounced "dot Learn"). As with any theme/skin designed for a large open system like this, it becomes an ongoing process, but the new theme I designed called "Selva" is already in use and comes by default with the system installation. Selva incorporates major enhancements and usability improvements to do with the interface and information architecture.
Selva screenshot mock-ups can be accessed here:
MySpace | Courses | Class |Communities |Preferences | Tools.

Master of Learning Science and Technology

In 2005 I managed the development of the new Masters program in Learning Science & Technoloogy (MLS&T) which was launched by the Faculty in 2006. MLS&T has since seen increased enrollments each year, and in 2010 I will be managing an internal evaluation and update to the program curriculum and technology. The Masters currently employs novel techniques for fostering social awareness online and self-management of group learning and collaborative work.

The Design of online learning environments

"Good design can enable us to live [learn] and work more efficiently, comfortably, securely and pleasurably in a more aesthetically fulfilling and functional environment. Interior designers consider the purpose, efficiency, comfort, safety and aesthetic of interior spaces to arrive at an optimum design."
- Design Institute of Australia

Architecture and interior design are about making people feel comfortable in a space, making it easier for them to use that space to purpose, and making the space enjoyable so that they'll be motivated to return to it. These goals are no less important in the design of online learning environments. Web design has tended to look strictly to traditional graphic design for its principles and approaches. We have neglected the principles and perspectives of architecture and other design disciplines, which have become more and more relevant as web sites have gone from static pages to virtual "environments" that we spend time in.

I'm interested in finding out how the "interior design" of a web space, and specifically a learning environment, can be optimized, and what design principles can be set in place. Peter Goodyear discusses this at a higher level, with the idea of "affordances" and "conviviality" derived from the work of architect Christopher Alexander. Check out Peter Goodyear's research for more on that.

This is part of my general interest in the visual design of elearning. (see my designer elearning blog) I'm interested in these questions:

  • What elements of the visual design of elearning affect a course's success? What design elements afford/support quality learning outcomes?
  • How can the visual design of a site promote a sense of community and conviviality and encourage interaction and group participation?
  • What interface design decisions make students more likely to feel comfortable, motivated to interact, and more likely to learn?

Publications

Educational background

My un-updated previous personal website: www.dorian-mode.com

Master of Multimedia Design (University of Sydney, Australia)

Masters project 1: "B2E - an interactive course in business to employee systems"
Resulting paper:
R. A. Calvo and D. Peters.Teaching by Design: Visual Design for Multimedia Education AusWEB 2002. Sunshine Coast Australia. pg 646-549. PDF of a longer version. Proceedings

Masters project 2: Dot by Dot

"As digital artists, we are all the illegitimate descendants of a movement begun 120 years ago called Pointillism. We have no choice but to work in dots but the pointillists did it deliberately believing it was a superior way of representing colour. Georges Seurat accomplished all the sophistication and harmony of his masterpeices with just dots of pure colour and perfect mathematical shapes. These are precisely the building blocks we work with today in pixels and vector shapes. Can we look back to breakthroughs over a century old to better understand today?"

Although the execution shows its age (8 years later), the ideas and visual games are still worth the romp.

B.A. - Professional Writing and Film Directing (Carnegie Mellon University, USA)
While at Carnegie Mellon, I was involved in the following projects in the role of writer/editor and digital designer.

  • National History Education Network - quarterly newsletter for history educators
  • The History of Technology - technology conference for teachers sponsered by the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH)
  • A curriculum guide on Life Cycle Analysis - coauthored with the University's Vice-provost for Education, Indira Nair

Additional Postgraduate Courses
"Developing flexible learning environments" - Institute for Teaching and Learning, University of Sydney

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