Teaching like medicine, auto mechanics, professional basketball, and chemical engineering---is a craft. There are distinct skills associated with its practice, which people are not born knowing. Some people are naturals (in education, the so-called "born teachers") and seem to develop the skills by intuition; most are not, however, and need years of training before they can function at a professional level. Doctors, mechanics, basketball players, engineers, and teachers at the K-12 level routinely get such training…but not college professors, most of whom get their Ph.D.'s, join a faculty, and set off to teach their first course without so much as five seconds on how one does that.

The result is the consistent use of teaching techniques that have repeatedly been shown to be ineffective at promoting learning. Many professors are surprised to learn that...

• There are well-defined instructional techniques that make teaching more effective.
  
• These techniques can be introduced slowly and methodically, without compromising coverage of the syllabus. They do not require large expenditures of money, time, and effort.
  
• Most importantly, the techniques have been validated by careful, documented, repeatable research. Their effectiveness is not simply a matter of opinion. They work!

This website is an attempt to bridge this learning gap in the most learned amidst us. The site will provide an overview of some of the key learning theories. We will then discuss the work of three key instructional theorists whose work is considered particularly relevant in the field of higher education. The website has been divided into two learning modules.

• Module 1 defines learning and learning theory and outlines the basic tenets of three distinct perspectives towards learning.
• Module 2 discusses the work of three influential instructional theorists: Bloom, Gagne and Bruner.

The resources section of this website contains links to other websites relevant to this topic and a suggested reading list for those who want to explore this subject in greater detail.