



  Why Wizards Aren't So Wonderful !


                Windows95 Applications and Human Learning Styles

                      Copyright 1995 by Robin Mabry

 I've spent the last three months, on and off,  trying to learn three
 Microsoft Windows 95 applications: MSN, WORKS and MONEY.  I've been
 writing, using and testing software for twenty years -- so I'm no novice.
 Up until now, I've felt pretty good about my ability to take on new
 software with even the most badly written documentation and become a power
 user within a day to a week.   The truth is that the new  Microsoft
 Windows95 applications have knocked me off my  throne.

 There is no documentation, - not even poorly written documentation - - and
 there lies the problem!   Take the Microsoft Network.  Its' poor,
 confusing and hodgepodge design cries out for a road map.  Since one is
 not provided, bring along some string.  Tie the string securely to your
 starting point and use it to guide yourself back out of the maze.  Should
 you find a place you might want to visit again, mark your trail well or
 you'll never find it again.   WORKS ?  Other than writing this column, I
 have not successfully completed any project including trying to write a
 letter and have the return address automatically inserted, to creating
 mailing labels, to just creating one sided post cards!   I know my old 16
 bit Windows applications like Print Shop and Word Perfect may not be sexy
 but they are easy to use.  As for MONEY, all I wanted to do was create a
 budget so I could easily change numbers and then print it all out.   After
 a couple of tries,  I did manage to get my online electronic pay ent
 application completed and printed but as for the budget, a few days ago I
 went back to paper and pencil!

 While I am approaching middle age, I still have a few functioning brain
 cells left and after giving this quite a bit of thought, I've decided the
 problem is them and not me.  In the brief period of time that personal
 computing has been around, some software vendors like Microsoft have gone
 from providing nice, thick manuals telling you more than you'd ever wanted
 to know about their product to telling you nothing.   Because, they claim
 that their products are so easy to use, who needs a manual?  Well I do and
 more than likely so do you!  Why?   For most of us frustrated users, the
 Help Screens don't seem to help and Wizards just whiz right by us without
 leaving a hint.  This is not because of lack of intelligence on our part
 but rather because we are human.

 Being human  speaks to diverse learning styles and needs.  My recent
 experiences with Microsoft's  Win95, Microsoft Works for Win95, Microsoft
 Money for Win95 and the Microsoft Network  have convinced me that  a
 return to the policy of  including  a good, thick manual is just what the
 user, friendly doctor ordered.

 Readers may remember when software applications came with two and sometime
 three books.  The first was the USER MANUAL -- preferably, a nice,
 friendly and personable book on how to use the software to do everything
 from A - Z. Good USER MANUALS included many examples and tutorials.   And
 some USER MANUALS incorporated an informal style as though the writer was
 talking directly to the reader including humor, tips and off-subject
 tangents.  The second was the REFERENCE MANUAL which got into the
 nitty-gritty details of how and why things worked so that if the
 instructions in the USER MANUAL didn't work one could try  to concoct
 various solutions from information provided in the REFERENCE MANUAL.  The
 third book was the INTRODUCTION GETTING STARTED booklet designed for those
 who don't need no stink'n manual; - just let them at it.

 Current thinking, at least by Microsoft is to just give us the GETTING
 STARTED and ignore all evidence that humans do learn differently.  A good
 USER MANUAL allowed for the differences in learning styles.  About a
 fourth of us are kinetic -also called tactile- learners; we learn by
 doing.  Task Wizards of which Microsoft has become overly fond, can be
 quite useful to kinetic users because they are actually doing something as
 the Wizards walks them step by step through a process.  The problem is
 that there is no manual to explain what commands were used to obtain the
 given result.  That could mean that many are forever doomed to live within
 the pre-designed templates of the Wizard.  They can't take the hands on
 learning and combine it with written instructions to create their own
 projects.  The examples and step by step instructions of good USER MANUAL
 addressed this need.

 Next we have auditory learners or those who learn by hearing.  The
 prevailing wisdom for much of human history is that we, particularly
 children, learn by listening. The teacher stands before us lecturing on
 and on and we soak it up via our ear drums just like sponges. For about a
 fourth of us,  this is true.   A personable, friendly often humorous
 teacher talking directly to the reader, as a writings style, addresses
 auditory learners.  Whether the reader reads aloud or can hear the writer
 voice in their head, the goal of talking to the learner is met.  Many
 third party USER MANUALS such as the Dummies and

 Idiots series use this approach in addition to step by step examples.

 Visual learners learn by seeing.  If you can show them an example, a
 picture or an object,  they can make the leap. This is why teachers and
 instructors write on blackboards, use posters and other visual aids.  A
 good USER MANUAL includes pictures of what each step should look like on
 the screen as well as the end product.  The little eighty-five page
 booklet included with Microsoft Works had lots of great pictures of  the
 most common screen setups and of many types of documents the Task Wizard
 could help you create.  In terms of step by stop photos of how to do a
 series of tasks, the booklet regularly referred to the text based
 unhelpful Online Help.

 Online Help are designed for the remaining quarter of the human population
 including me, or abstract learners or thinkers.  Abstract learners like to
 read the instructions, usually in great detail, think about them and then
 apply them.  Help Screens are notoriously short on details but an even
 larger shortcoming is the reader has to pick the right keywords to get
 appropriate help.  This is a lot more difficult then it seems.  With a
 good USER MANUAL, a user can begin with either the Table of Contents or
 the Subject Index as starting point.  Thumbing through the pages and
 skimming paragraphs and examples until, in all likelihood, the user finds
 the explanation they need.  Help Screens tend to be circular leaving the
 frustrated user right back where they started and no more enlightened.
 Details in the help screen are sketchy and don't give one much to think
 about or move forward with -- especially if you want to do something
 slightly different or more than the Help Screen was designed to explain.


 All of us, barring any physical disability, have the ability to use all
 learning styles but we do have a preferred  and dominant learning styles.
 We now know that a good teacher tries to address all learning styles. My
 two favorite windows applications are Print Shop Ensemble and WordPerfect.
 Both come with substantial USER GUIDES and I think that in turn reflects
 in their general ease of use.  As one who has written complex computer
 programs and the accompanying manuals, the writing of the manuals can be
 quite helpful in spotting problems.  At one point,  we were required to
 write both a USER MANUAL and a PROGRAMMERS REFERENCE GUIDE.  USER MANUALS
 are extremely useful in  verifying whether a feature is really easy to use
 or self-evident in its purpose.  The PROGRAMMER GUIDE tended to illuminate
 technical problems such as sloppy coding or poor system design.  The
 growing market of computer program documentation is evidence there is
 strong user demand for good, solid, substantial documentation.

 So why don't software vendors do themselves a favor and return to writing
 user documentation?  Look at it as quality control and beta testing. If
 your writers can't explain or get others to make features work from their
 written instructions, its a good bet this  undocu- mentable feature is
 another bug.

 For additional information about learning styles, try these web sites:

 Discover Your Own Learning Style
 http://www.hcc.hawaii.edu/hccinfo/facdev/lsi.html

 New Students - New Learning Styles
 http://web.gmu.edu/bcox/Academia/KierseyLearningStyles.html (25k)

 Learning Styles - How People Learn
 http://www.hcc.hawaii.edu/hccinfo/facdev/8.html (1k)

 Seven Styles of Learning
 http://www.wordsimages.com/ewinters/styles.htm(5k)

 Exploring Technology and School Reform
 http://k12.cnidr.org:90/resource.cntnts.html

 Learning Styles Network Newsletter (back issues)
 gopher://sjumusic.stjohns.edu:70/1-GOP/@lsi%3Anews.menu

 Robin Mabry has a varied and strong background in both teaching and
 programming.  She is a WindoWatch contributor and brings a wealth of
 hands-on experience to her writing.



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