This book is about the implications of constructivism for instructional-de-
sign practice. However, more importantly, it is a dialogue between in-
structional developers and learning theorists. We have been involved in
both the theory of learning and the practice of instructional design. As we
work with colleagues in each discipline, we have been amazed to find a
general lack of familiarity with each other's work. Indeed, most often
there is even a lack of interest in the work of the other. Even the leading
publishers in the two fields, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates and Educational
Technology Publications, had never met until conferring for the prepara-
tion of this book. Just as the preparation of this book served as a vehicle
for the publishers to exchange ideas, so too we hope that the book itself
will serve as a vehicle for the exchange of ideas between learning theory
and instructional practice.

We find the lack of communication between these fields extremely
surprising and puzzling. From an instructional-design perspective, it
seems to us that the practice of instructional design must be based on some
conception of how people learn and on what it means to learn. From a
learning-theory perspective, it also seems quite obvious that the value of
learning theory rests in the ability to predict the impact of alternative
learning environments or instructional practices on what is learned.
Thus, the interchange of ideas between these disciplines is essential.

Constructivism provided a very important vehicle for establishing the
dialogue. It is not that constructivism is a new perspective. Rather, we
think that two changes in our society--the volume of information we
must manage and the new opportunities provided through technology--
have caused us to revisit constructivism. The effect has been indirect.

The information age and the technological capabilities have caused us to
reconceptualize the learning process and to design new instructional ap-
proaches. Both the learning theories and the instructional approaches are
consistent with the constructivist epistemology.
The information age has resulted in rapidly increasing and changing
information while at the same time making it more available. Traditional
models of learning and instruction emphasized forms of mastering the in-
formation in a content domain. Storing information and being able to re-
call it was central to the missions of both schools and business training.
However, it simply is no longer possible (there is too much) or even rea-
sonable (it changes too rapidly) to master most content domains.

Numerous technological advances have permitted us (perhaps re-
quired us) to move away from instructional strategies that focus on the

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