For Immediate Release
SUNNYVALE, CA (U.S.)—January 8, 2008—The Involution Master Academy released their Winter 2008 Semester schedule today. Expanding to offer five total courses and featuring two new instructors, the upcoming semester builds off the very successful initial course offerings from last fall.
“The Involution Master Academy offers a unique opportunity for trained software professionals to learn advanced skills and knowledge that will make them much more effective and valuable,” said Benjamin Listwon, a principal at Involution Studios, the company that runs the educational program. “Our focus on direct, one-to-one education between students and well-known, industry-leading instructors provides an unparalleled learning opportunity.”
This semester, Lou Rosenfeld is joining the teaching team. The father of information architecture, Rosenfeld will be traveling from his New York City home to teach “Site Search Analytics for a Better User Experience.” This will be Rosenfeld’s first time teaching this new course, a precursor to the release of his new book of the same title. Like all Involution Master Academy courses, this course will be held in Sunnyvale, California. It is scheduled for Tuesday March 18, 2008.
The other new instructor is Dirk Knemeyer, a principal at Involution Studios and President of UXnet, the non-profit association for the user experience industry. Knemeyer will be teaching “Applied Empathy: An Experience Design Framework,” based on his groundbreaking work on design planning around concrete human needs and desires in a practical way. This course is scheduled for Saturday March 8, 2008.
“Adding these two new instructors to our roster continues to enhance and upgrade our comprehensive educational offering for all,” Listwon commented. “We’re also happy to welcome back three instructors from the Fall: Andrei Herasimchuk, Steve Portigal, and Luke Wroblewski.”
Herasimchuk will bring back his acclaimed “Product Architecture Symposium” course, which teaches students how to plan and structure a product, both to tee up a successful design process and achieve a shared vision around the product with key stakeholders. This course will be held on Saturday February 23, 2008.
While Portigal will again be teaching “Design Research Methods,” this revamped course is now set up for a one day format, and is actually part of a planned two course offering. The first course, “Design Research Methods,” will expose students to the key methods and processes of design research in a full day format, emphasizing exercises and activities to apply the skills as they are being learned. Later this year, Portigal will teach the second course, “Design Research Practicum,” a semester-long group project where students from the first course, along with more experienced design research professionals who are interested in participating, will collaborate on an actual project with Steve. However, “Design Research Methods” can be taken as a complete, self-contained course and will be taught on Saturday March 1, 2008.
Wroblewski is offering an entirely new class this semester. After the great success of his “Influencing Strategy by Design” course, taught with Tom Chi, Luke is coming back with “Web Form Design Best Practices” in the Fall. Based on his upcoming book on the subject, this course teaches designers advanced concepts and key details that help them create or redesign forms in a way that will increase use and conversion. This course will be offered on Saturday March 15, 2008.
Since Involution Master Academy classes have a limit of nine students each and have proven to sell out in the past, interested attendees should sign up early.
About Involution Studios
Involution is a software services firm headquartered in Boston. We deploy small and experienced teams to create or redesign complex digital products. Our client list includes Apple, Microsoft, Oracle, McAfee, Shutterfly, PayPal, and Yahoo.
For more information please contact Dirk Knemeyer, dirk@goinvo.com or +1 408 387 3690.