Todd Toler
April 9 4:00PM
Interaction designers, graphic designers, and anybody else involved in the
ongoing production of commercial websites should pay a lot more attention to
instructional principles – even if the project at hand is not overtly
instructional. What makes material good for learning also makes it good for
other conversion goals – such as explaining products, services, and
strengthening brands. This presentation gives an overview of several key
learning theories valued by instructional designers, with real-world examples
of how they make a difference in all sorts of consumer applications (such as in
banking, how-to, and entertainment). The principles include: learning from
visuals, cognitive load theory, situated learning, cognitive flexibility
theory, scaffolded vs. discovery learning, and case-based reasoning. The
emphasis will be on using the instructional designer's theoretical toolkit to
build an evaluation framework, or heuristic, for reviewing non-instructional
designs.
About the Presenter: Todd Toler is the Director of User Experience at John
Wiley & Sons, a leading educational publisher. From acting as design lead on
the innovative teaching and learning platform, WileyPLUS, to helping put the
For Dummies brand online, he lives at the junction of consumer-focused IA work
and instructional design. Todd is a trained instructional designer and
graduate of NYU's Educational Communication and Technology masters program.