Where is evidence-based instructional design in medical education curriculum development?

If you are interested in developing evidence-based educational materials, you should be aware of Richard E Mayer’s work on the principles of instructional design, which are nicely summarised in this edition of the journal. Over his career, Mayer has developed and empirically tested theories of multimedia learning, while elaborating principles and guidelines on how to design and develop instructional materials. His work is also an excellent complement to the recent paper by van Merriënboer and Sweller on cognitive load theory, and together these articles highlight the increasing interest in applying the science of educational psychology to medical education curriculum materials.