Design principles to facilitate e-learning And their application to promote social value creation in residential development

Sammanfattning

This thesis establishes an evidence-based framework of design principles to optimizeasynchronous e-learning. The framework was applied to a digital course raising awareness ofsocial value creation within residential development. A systematic literature review wasconducted and supplemented by multimedia learning theories. A manual thematic analysis ofthis literature resulted in a comprehensive framework of 36 design principles organized intofive themes: Navigation, Content Structure, Content Representation, Exercises, and Feedback.Two qualitative interviews were conducted with residential developers to calibrate theillustrations of the course to industry-specific expectations. The empirical results revealed astrong participant preference for watercolor illustration style and photorealism over low-detailed silhouettes. Choosing watercolor illustrations represents a critical compromise betweenestablished multimedia learning theory that advocates schematic visuals, emotional design thathighlights the importance of color and the professionals’ expectations of high-qualityvisualizations. The synthesized framework and visual strategies were implemented to developa prototype e-learning course. Evaluation from the client validated the course’s instructionalclarity, intuitive navigation, and psychological alignment with neuroarchitecture concepts.However, the implementation process exposed technical limitations imposed by developingwithin Microsoft PowerPoint, which lacks the capacity for assessment data collection andsolutions for high-engagement interactivity. Consequently, this study concludes that whileslide-based platforms can deliver functional e-learning, future development might requiremigrating to a dedicated Learning Management System (LMS). The integration of audionarration would support learning further utilizing both visual and auditory channels. This thesisaims to bridge the gap between cognitive multimedia theory and industry-specific cultures,providing a foundation for future empirical research into the boundary conditions of emotionaldesign in professional education.