I’ve mentioned the cognitive scientist Daniel Willingham previously — here and here — as a great resource for instructors who want to learn something about how people actually learn. A social psychologist/lunch partner informed me about this archive of columns that Daniel Willingham has written for the Washington Post. The columns present recent research findings about what affects students’ learning.
It is unfortunate that most university faculty (outside of psychology departments) are never exposed to this kind of information and that the design of courses and curricula doesn’t take it into account.