When marketing and elearning collide

This morning I came across Apple's elearning when reading a blog entry called elearning is selling. I tend to agree with the opinion put forth in the blog. Today, people don't want to waste time being 'sold'. Consumers are smart and they know what they want. Show the the goods, how to use them, and let buyers decide is a better approach to marketing communication. I predict that marketing and elearning will increasingly collide as consumers seek answers to questions they have prior to buying a product or service.

I wanted to showcase this example of instructional design. I particularly like the way each short topic-based video clip appears as a graphic because the mind can simultaneously see both the specific topic and what they will learn as a whole. A suggestion would be to include the time in the lower right hand corner, e.g., 30 sec, to give the viewer an idea of how long each clip is.

This is an appealing way to present the content. The layout of the videos takes into consideration the fact that we recognize objects more quickly in patterns than in lines or lists. For example, if you place many marbles side by side in a line it is more difficult to accurately estimate the number than if they are separated into a polygonal or hexagonal shapes. With patterns, our mind makes a visual connection to the whole and can more easily break it down into parts. Any other thoughts you have on the instructional design of this example?