I previously mentioned on Twitter that I have been working with Mr. Sekine from Spice Works, whom I have known since my time at the University of Tokyo, on learning systems and content. Mr. Sekine was then interviewed by Mynavi Corporation (I see they have changed their company name; formerly Mainichi Communications Inc.) for their Web Designing magazine. Mainichi Communications is famous among students for their job hunting magazines, but Web Designing is also a well-known publication.

Mr. Sekine asked if he could introduce “IDO,” a system that Professor Yamauchi, Professor Kitamura at Tokyo Keizai University, and I have been working on, and I agreed. We had commissioned Spice Works to develop “IDO.”

Between international conferences and work, I was so busy that I forgot to buy Web Designing. Recently, before heading to an international conference, I bought three months’ worth of issues at once. While reading them, I found Mr. Sekine featured in the “Web Designer White Paper” special feature in the October issue, and the IDO screen was there!! I was so moved when I saw it—I thought, “Wow!!” It is a pleasure to see a system I was involved in appear in such a magazine.

However, while learning systems and content require design in terms of appearance and usability, that alone is not enough; they also need to facilitate the flow of learning behavior and be easy to learn from. When people talk about Web design, it is often in the context of consumer activities like corporate introductions, public relations, and marketing. It might be interesting to approach the design of learning—which is a psychological activity and a process of growth—from the perspective of theories used in Web design. There are educational types of content on websites, aren’t there? Like websites for environmental protection or natural sciences. The Web design principles used in those areas seem relevant.

In our research field, we have accumulated research findings and theories in Instructional Design and the learning sciences, so exploring the intersection with those theories would be great. It is very interesting. I would like to conduct research in this area as well when I have the time.