Annotated bibliographies are things of beauty for anyone undertaking scholarly works. The Science of Learning – brought to you by the Deans for Impact, this short fact-filled document provides not only a summary of recent (to 2015) research in cognitive science but also packages it around six key questions all educators will find useful. They even pooh pooh some common misconceptions about how students learn and think, including the oft-cited ‘students have different learning styles’ trope.

Should you add a talking head to your video? Do you need to record in a studio?* Originally published in 2002, Ruth Clark and Richard Mayer’s book “e-Learning and the Science of Instruction” provides a wealth of evidence-based recommendations for multimedia learning. Their discussion of emotional design is particularly interesting and might make you reconsider your approach to visuals.

*the answers are ‘yes’ and ‘no’ respectively. Read more: Clark, R.C. and Mayer, R.E. (2012). e-Learning and the Science of Instruction: Proved Guidelines for Consumers and Designers of Multimedia Learning. John Wiley & Sons, Inc.