Teaching and Learning as Psychological Processes

Engeness (this issue, DOI 10.1159/000) begins this article with the statement that “learning as a psychological process has been downplayed in the design of MOOCs.” I hope that Engeness is wrong about this and that this paper is not the first or the only guide for massive open online course (MOOC) designers to account for the psychological aspects of human learning. The principles of instructional design and pedagogy draw heavily on our understanding of learning as an entire suite of psychological processes. Many of the individuals who teach, whether in MOOCs, in other online environments, or in person, have extensive understanding of a range of pedagogical or instructional design principles and are working with instructional designers to encourage deep and meaningful learning by utilizing the best of our understanding of learning and memory as psychological processes. Along with most industries during the worldwide pandemic, higher education needed to rapidly move to remote delivery. Remote instruction requires a more planned and structured approach; the adjustments and improvisations that an instructor can make live in the classroom do not easily translate into remote delivery. The instructional designers on campuses became suddenly more popular and in demand. Let us take this historic moment, when the opportunities and affordances of remote instruction are on the minds of many instructors, as an opportunity to review and revisit the instructional design and pedagogy that underpin our teaching and learning. Whether this is a reminder of familiar promising practices or a foray into uncharted territory, our courses and our students will benefit from our concerted effort to ensure that the psychological processes of teaching and learning remain clearly in our minds and in our instructional design.