Introduction

One of my favorite things about my own doctoral program was the immediate practicality of nearly everything I learned. Most of my professors used renewable assignments – assignments that are useful beyond the course itself, ones that find a place in portfolios, serve as real-world examples of skills, or are pulled out and referenced later in coursework or professional settings.

The collaborative writing of this textbook was one of those renewable assignments for my fully online, asynchronous graduate-level learning theories course at Idaho State University, EDLT 7726. As instructional design doctoral students, my students didn’t just need to understand learning theories. They needed to be able to apply them. They also needed hands-on experience with educational technologies, practice in both technical and academic writing, and opportunities to engage in peer collaboration and feedback.

How This Book Was Created

Each student chose a learning theory, researched it, and located relevant Open Educational Resources (OER) that they could remix in their chapter. For some of the theories, there was little to no OER available. They then researched, drafted, peer-reviewed, and revised a full chapter on their selected theory. In doing so, they:

• Wrote measurable learning objectives and curated and created written and video content aligned with those objectives.
• Designed H5P interactive elements that allowed readers to practice those learning objectives.
• Used AI tools (critically, using the CRAFT strategy) to co-create images, alt text, image descriptions, case studies, examples, and potential discussion questions.
• Selected their own chapter licenses and wrote attribution statements for all included content.
• Read one another’s chapters and created lesson applications, building a theory library in a Google doc they could carry into future courses and careers.

This wasn’t just an academic exercise. It was an authentic instructional design experience.

What You’ll Get from This Book

This OER is designed to provide readers with an easy-to-digest, yet deep understanding of major learning theories and several motivational theories. If you’re a future instructional designer, you’ll find practical examples, strategies, and guidance for applying each theory in real-world scenarios.

While the primary audience is instructional design students, this book is useful for anyone looking to engage with learning theories in a clear and structured way.

Why This Book is Open

Almost everything in this textbook is openly licensed, ensuring that future educators and students can remix, adapt, and build upon the content. Any OER used or remixed in this text is attributed to the original authors not just to comply with their license, but in gratitude and appreciation for the work on which we build. Whether you’re a professor teaching learning theories or a student wanting hands-on practice, this book is here for you: free, forever.

Since this book was built in Pressbooks, educators can assign it directly, students can interact with embedded activities, and anyone can access it without paywalls or login barriers.

The Collaborative Writing Process: Challenges & Successes

Writing this book was a journey – one full of learning curves, experimentation, and collaboration. Students had to navigate Pressbooks, learn how to build and embed H5P, and create and integrate video content. They also explored using AI to co-create case studies, examples, and images – sometimes with great results, sometimes with unexpected challenges.

But they persisted. They shared tips, asked for help, provided thoughtful peer feedback, cheered one another on, and revised multiple times. This is no small task in a completely asynchronous, online course. In the process, they developed critical instructional design skills, including:

• Giving clear and helpful feedback to others
• Asking for help when needed
• Staying curious and asking “how’d you do that?”
• Troubleshooting various technologies
• Critically analyzing AI-generated content
• Finding and inserting their own voice in academic writing

This book is proof of their hard work and their success.

A Note About AI Use

As noted above, AI was used as a co-creator or collaborator in a few ways throughout this course using the CRAFT strategy.  This strategy requires transparency of AI use, analysis for accuracy of AI output, and reflection after each AI interaction to ensure we used AI as ethically and strategically as possible. At times some of those AI pieces were used in this book. For continued transparency, AI attributions are included in chapters in which AI was used.

How This Book is Structured

This book is organized to guide you through both foundational theories of learning and practical tools for creating your own open textbook chapters. It combines overview chapters of major theories, student-authored explorations of specific theories, and hands-on support for chapter creation.

Here’s how it’s laid out:

1. Major Learning Theories – The first part of the book introduces you to key categories of learning and motivational theories. Each chapter highlights major theorists, central assumptions, and implications for instructional design, as well as links to a few student-written chapters in the textbook that align with each major theory.
2. Student-Written Learning Theories Chapters – The second section features student-authored chapters that look deeper into specific learning and motivational theories. These chapters expand on the overviews, offering historical context, key principles, and real-world applications. Each chapter brings a unique voice and perspective, reflecting the collaborative and open nature of this textbook project.
3. Chapter Creation Tools – The final section provides hands-on tools and guidance to help you create your own open textbook chapters. Together, these sections support your growth as both a learner and a content creator, equipping you with the knowledge, tools, and confidence to contribute meaningfully to the world of open education.

Each of the chapters from the first two sections follows a consistent framework to make the theories easy to understand and apply:

1. Learning Objectives – What you’ll learn in the chapter
2. Overview of the Theory – A high-level summary
3. Origins of the Theory – Who developed it and why
4. Fundamental Tenets – The core ideas behind the theory
5. Strengths & Limitations – Where the theory shines and where it falls short
6. Instructional Design Implications – How instructional designers can use this theory in practice
7. Applied Practice – Interactive activities and real-world applications

Want to Share Feedback?

Because this is an OER, I’d love to hear from you! If you’ve found this book helpful, reused it in your own work, or have feedback, feel free to email me at theresahuff@isu.edu.

A Note on Licensing

Unless otherwise noted, this entire OER is licensed CC BY, meaning you are free to share, remix, and build upon it as long as you provide proper attribution. As this is a collaboratively-written OER, the choice of license was determined by the author of each chapter. Though the entire OER has been licensed as “CC-BY unless otherwise noted”, note that some chapters have licenses that differ from this overall license. All chapters and authors along with links to their original source OER can also be found at the end of each chapter. 

Welcome to the Conversation!

This book is more than a textbook. It’s a collaboration, a learning experience, and a resource for the instructional design community. I hope it serves you well in your studies, your teaching, and your future work as an instructional designer.