Linking Premise To Practice: An Instructional Theory-Strategy Model Approach

Abstract

College and university teaching has come under intense scrutiny in recent years. Scholars agree that effective teaching is much more than the transmission of knowledge. However, they may disagree as to what effective teaching entails. This paper provides a perspective that effective teaching, and thus learning, is enhanced when appropriate instructional theories are clearly linked to correlated teaching strategies. It discusses the purpose of theories and models in that they explain and predict behavior. Furthermore, it presents the Instructional Theory-Strategy Model and demonstrates how theory and strategy are linked. If theory does indeed explain and predict behavior, faculty can increase learning opportunities by linking the appropriate instructional theory to its corresponding teaching strategy.