Learning theories provide a foundation for ISD. An instructional designer's theoretical approach to learning affects how the instruction is designed, developed, implemented, and evaluated. Most instructional designer's theoretical orientation is based upon one or the integration of three theories: behaviorism, cognitivism, and constructivism. These three theories may be familiar to you from an undergraduate psychology or education courses. They may also be familiar to you from previous courses in your program.

Although the distance education literature, particularly for higher education, purports that constructivism underlies effective distance learning, additional learning theories are also applicable. Let's briefly consider definitions of these theories and their application to distance education instructional design. Please note that in in-depth study of each of these theories is not within the scope of this course. If you would like to know more, I would encourage you to read the seminal works of some of the theorists mentioned in this discussion.