10 Books to Push Your Thinking about Learning Design

Today I was thinking about what books I would recommend to someone in order to have some experience of the learning journey I’ve been on for the last 8 years.

If you’re looking for some summer reading that will help you grow your mind, here’s my list:

1. Theory of Fun for Game Design: This will help you to understand the principles that make games addictive learning activities and help you create more desire to learn for any audience. Really, I’m not kidding.

2. Bringing Words to Life, Second Edition: Robust Vocabulary Instruction: While this is written for teaching vocabulary to the K-6 age group, the research and activities described in the book are fascinating. The research principles and guidance on how to teach for various categories of words are sound for transfer to any age.

3. Design For How People Learn (Voices That Matter) I think this is a must read for understanding visual design principles related to learning. To be fair, I have also had the benefit of many long and interesting conversations about learning and design with Julie, so on this one, I might be biased.

4. Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience (Harper Perennial Modern Classics) During flow, people typically experience deep enjoyment, creativity, and a total involvement with life. We should seek to get learners into a state of flow, and then do as little as possible that disrupts them.

5. Don’t Make Me Think, Revisited: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability (3rd Edition) (Voices That Matter) You don’t really understand usability until you’ve carefully considered how users interact with the digital interfaces they encounter. Everyone should read at least one book on usability if they are designing a digital product.

6. Cognitive Development and Learning in Instructional Contexts (3rd Edition) An amazing book about learning! James Byrnes is a top-notch explainer. It looks like it might be a textbook, but it is a fascinating and thought-provoking read. My copy has notes and highlights everywhere.

7. Understanding Learning and Teaching (Society for Research Into Higher Education S)The research group associated with Trigwell and Prosser has done some absolutely fascinating work related to motivation to learn, perceptions of the learning environment, perceptions of the discipline, and how students perceive themselves as learners. Most of the research is seated in STEM education, but anyone in education can appreciate the elegantly-designed experiments and their outcomes/implications for learning design.

8. Where Good Ideas Come From There are some great gems in this book (like the adjacent possible concept) that will help you to develop your own practice of innovation and understand that ideas are not as rare as you might think.

9. By Clay Shirky: Cognitive Surplus: Creativity and Generosity in a Connected Age which can only be read in conjunction with it’s complete opposite, The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains

10. e-Learning and the Science of Instruction: Proven Guidelines for Consumers and Designers of Multimedia Learning  This is a newish version of an old standard, but I love it because every “prescription” is backed by research and conflicting studies are carefully dissected into their nuanced differences. It’s an easy read and a good “go to” book for when you need research to have your back.

About Author

Maria Andersen

Dr. Maria Andersen has spent most of her career teaching, writing curriculum, and developing digital products for learning. Recently she returned to the classroom, having new teaching adventures in K-12 middle and high school.

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