The Good Practice Database
The Adult Learning Inspectorate’s Good Practice Database is a collection of case studies delivering valuable ideas and experience to everyone in the adult learning sector.
The case studies are reports on good practice found by ALI inspectors during their assessments and thus provide an important insight into methods and practices that really work in adult education.
The first implementation of the database was found to be extremely useful, but there were regular reports that it was difficult to navigate. There were also indications that relevant examples were missed when searches were defined too narrowly.
DVA undertook to examine the database in detail and develop new layouts and navigation. Since the database was being ported to a new Microsoft content management system, this was an ideal opportunity to look at it anew.
We agreed that the structure of the database should not change too radically, mainly because many users were already familiar with that structure. What we did set out to create was a fundamental revision of the style of searching and presentation of results, to make the whole process more intuitive. We also wanted to make sure that searchers were given sight of case studies that may not have precisely matched their search criteria but which might prove valuable nevertheless.
To kick-start the project we ran a daylong consultancy workshop examining the user needs for the database and
developing a relevan t approach for each page of the user journey. From this we produced wire-frames mapping a series of typical user journeys. Once these were agreed, a set of design templates was created to implement in the content management system, ready for import of the data.
The end-result is a user journey that is less like a database search and more akin to browsing a set of informative web pages. As users refine their searches they are able to see the alternatives that are on offer, making them more aware of the extent of the database and drawing their attention to all the case studies that might be relevant.
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