PREFACE

SINCE WE WROTE THE previous edition of this book, about seven years ago, e-learning has undergone some significant changes. COVID-19 led to worldwide disruption of in-person instruction at all educational levels. Almost overnight, millions of instructors and students found themselves in various forms of virtual learning. A large workforce segment migrated to working from home. A portion of that remote workforce remains remote today, with continued reliance on digital resources for work and learning. Remote work escalated the use of various forms of groupware for collaborative work and learning. Zoom and other software intended for meetings became a major conduit for virtual classrooms. Meanwhile, new technologies gave rise to immersive virtual reality and augmented reality platforms for learning and performance support. In short, social and technological changes brought e-learning into the spotlight as a major resource for communication and instruction.

On the research side, dozens of experimental studies were aggregated by way of meta-analyses, allowing us to assess the overall impact of specific instructional methods and, perhaps more importantly, allowing us to define boundary conditions under which these methods were more effective. Knowing boundary conditions helps us define under what conditions a particular e-learning method or technology would be most effective. Additionally, experimental studies expanded to incorporate eye tracking technology and, to a lesser extent, brain activity and biometric measures. There also has been increased emphasis on measures of learner motivation, affective processing, social processing, and cognitive processing during learning.

Given such radical change, our summary of the evidence and the psychology behind effective e-learning in this book can help you answer the following questions:

• Is e-learning more effective than face-to-face classroom instruction?
• Are some forms of e-learning better than others?
• How can you best take advantage of features such as graphics, animations, audio, simulations, games, and collaboration tools available in e-learning?
• How can you leverage instructional video, games, and virtual reality in e-learning?

How to Read This Book

Our first edition of this book, which was published in 2002 and included 14 chapters, has grown in this edition to 21 chapters. This edition includes 3 new chapters focused on evidence regarding signaling in e-learning, video-based instruction, and immersive virtual reality platforms.

The 21 chapters summarized in the table that follows are grouped into six sections. You may choose to read the chapters in order, or if you have special interests such as evidence on online games or immersive virtual reality, you can jump to those chapters. Chapters 1–3 summarize foundational concepts that form the base for the rest of the book, including the science of learning and basics of experimental evidence. We recommend you start with these chapters. In Section 2, we offer 6 chapters with guidelines and evidence regarding optimal use of visuals, text, and audio in e-learning. Evidence on how to promote productive engagement in e-learning is the focus of Section 3. Section 4 includes 2 chapters relevant to organizational decisions you can make in design and sequencing of lessons and courses. We review social cues in e-learning in Section 5, including personalization of your lessons and ways to promote productive collaborative learning. Section 6 includes 4 chapters highlighting evidence on special applications of digital learning, including simulations, games, video-based instruction, and immersive platforms. Chapter 21 includes a checklist that summarizes all of the guidelines presented throughout the book. That is a good place to help you put together all you have learned.

Table P.1. An Overview of e-Learning and the Science of Instruction.