Clayton S.

Cook
EDIT 720
Guenther, R. Kim. Human Cognition. New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 1997. Print.
Guenthers book gives an outline of what human cognition is and how the study of human
cognition has been, broken down over time. Guenther connects the various schools of thought
concerning human cognition through the ages, beginning with thinkers like Copernicus and
Galileo and moving to modern scientists such as Piaget and Gardner. Each of the various
schools of thought are outlined, quickly discussed, and compared to the ideas of scientists of
earlier years. The tracing of human cognition from the realm of supernatural happenings to the
modern idea that the mind works like a machine is nicely and concisely summarized.
Guenther offers a concise rundown of the views of human cognition from the earliest thoughts to
the most modern. This first chapter does a good job of this. Human cognition in and of itself is
a huge field with more schools of thought than can be thoroughly covered in a chapter.
However, Guenther accomplishes this task but still leaves enough meat for the reader to develop
an understanding of how the science of human cognition has transformed.
This chapter did a good job of relating in fairly easy to understand terms a very broad and
difficult subject area. Students should be able to use the information presented as a strong
jumping off point for research into the area of human cognition.

Clayton S. Cook
EDIT 720
Smith, Patricia L. & Ragan, Tillman J. Instructional Design. New York: Wiley. Print.
Smith and Ragan begin by giving a breakdown of what they consider Instructional design, going
as far as assigning a definition to it. They also divide instruction into three separate categories:
education, training, and teaching. From this point the authors focus mainly on the design aspect
of instruction as the other two areas as seen as fairly interchangeable. The design component is
also where the precise planning takes place. The remainder of chapter one is spent discussing
aspects of design, such as the process design follows, advantages of systematic design, and some
limitations of it.
This chapter does an excellent job of breaking down design and the process of design. Design is
the most specific of the categories of instruction so the authors take great care to discuss it indepth. The authors even discuss jobs and roles in which people may serve as designers.
This chapter would be very beneficial to someone who is researching instructional design as it
delves into the nuances of education, training and design separately. While training and
education are seen as fairly interchangeable words, design is seen as, and treated as a separate,
but included area. The authors concisely and sufficiently define design and cover facets of
instructional design in an easy to read format.

Clayton S. Cook
EDIT 720
Smith, Patricia L. & Ragan, Tillman J. Instructional Design. New York: Wiley. Print.
In chapter two, Smith and Ragan delve into the foundations of instructional design. They begin
the chapter discussing a few of the philosophies of instructional design, namely Constructivism
and Empiricism, as well as some subparts of each. Each of the subparts are discussed in-depth
with the main differences of each being discussed as well. The authors then move into theory
and the major theories contributing to instructional design. These theories include cognitive
learning theories and the subsets of it. Also discussed are developmental theorists, such as Piaget
and Vygotsky, at their schools of thought.
This chapter breaks down instructional design into its smaller parts. Each part is focused on and
discussed in detail. The amount of discussion centered on each idea, thought, and theory give the
reader the means by which to break apart and understand the concepts being presented. The
authors also include a concise summary, complete with a diagram, to help further concrete the
information.
This chapter is easy to understand and follow as it calls upon some of the theories teachers have
already been exposed to and are accustomed to hearing. Names such as Piaget and Vygotsky
should immediately access prior knowledge and make the information easier to digest. However,
the varying ideals of the theories can get slightly tedious.

Clayton S. Cook
EDIT 720
Sims, R. (2015). Beyond instructional design: Making learning design a reality. Journal Of
Learning Design, 8(3), 33-41.
In this article, design strategy is discussed in the context of the new learners that teachers are
trying to reach and the extents the designers are going to reach them. The need for the designs of
instruction to fuse with the needs of todays technological learners, whose educational venues are
the technology. Todays learners must be allowed to create, remix, explore, and perform. The
author lines out things that todays designers can do to reach the new generation of learners.
This article does a wonderful job of relating what todays designers must accomplish to reach a
completely new generation of learners, learners who educational world is technology. The ideas
and tips given in this article would greatly help to reach those students and learners. Learners
today want to be given the keys to drive their own learning and this article helps lay the
foundation as to who designers can do just that.
This article makes instructional design as it relates to students of today easier to understand.
Learning has left the four walls of a classroom and instructional design has to be adapted as such.
It must reach an entirely new set of learners, learners who devour information at a rapid pace.
While they desire to learn, they must also be given the freedom to blaze their own path.