Principles of Learning

"Because our methods of instruction are generally ineffective, educators have not been able to devote much time and effort to the whole child. If we can develop highly effective instructional resources (whether in books or in computers), then we can free some (more) of the teacher's time to work on the social, psychological, emotional, and moral development of our children." "Rather than having primary responsibility for a subject, the future teacher will have primary responsibility for a number of children. The teacher will become an advisor, a motivator, and someone whose major interest is the child---the whole child. The teacher will be liberated from the more routine, boring aspects of his or her profession by well-designed instructional resoureces...by better testing methods, and by better record-keeping systems. But such improvements in education cannot occur before we improve our knowledge about how to design more effective, efficient, and appealing methods of...

"Instructional design is a discipline that is concerned with understanding and improving one aspect of education: the process of instruction. The purpose of any design activity is to devise optimal means to achieve desired ends. Therefore the, the discipline of instructional design is concerned primarily with prescribing optimal methods of instruction to bring about desired changes in student knowledge and skills. " (Reigeluth, 1983, p. 4)

"One can envision a time when there will be a variety of different models of instruction, each prescribing the best available methods for achieving a different kind of learning goal under different kinds of conditions. One can also envision researchers all over the world building upon this common knowledge base, continually improving and refining those models. it is my hope that this book will contribute in some small way to forming that common knowledge base." (Reigeluth, 1983, p. xii)

"This book is dedicated to increasing our knowledge about how to improve instruction. It is founded on the premise that the process of learning can be made easier and more enjoyable." (Reigeluth, 1983, p. xi)