Noted psychologist B. F. Skinner's theories on behavior were highly influencial on instructional theoriests, because their hypotheses can be tested fairly easily with the scientific process. These are further hard to demonstrate cognitive learning effects. Paulo Freire's [http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0826412769/qid=1123177343/sr=8-1/ref=pd_bbs_1/104-5986929-5797515?v=glance&s=books&n=507846 Pedagogy of the Oppressed] — first published around English within 1968 — experienced the broad influence above the generation of Western pedagogue using his critique of various "banking" system of education & analysis of the teacher-student relationship.

In the context of e-learning, a major discussion within instructional theory is the likely of learning objects to structure and deliver content. The have-alone educational animation is an example of a learning object that may be re-utilized when the basis for different learning lives. There are presently numbers of groups trying to placed standards for the development & implementation of learning objects. At a forefront of the standards groups is the Department of Defense's Advanced Distributed Learning initiative with its SCORM standards. SCORM stands for Shareable Content Object Information Model.