Justin Reich leads this MIT CMS.595 Learning, Media, and Technology session on how educational theory explains learning in context. The class works through Cognitive Load Theory, which treats working memory as a limited resource that instruction must manage carefully, alongside Situated Learning theory, which argues that knowledge is inseparable from the social and physical settings where it is used. Rather than presenting the two as rivals, Reich runs a classroom discussion testing where they conflict and where they can be combined, using student questions and examples to probe how apprenticeship, authentic tasks, and community practice fit alongside explicit instructional design. At 69 minutes, the session runs as a full seminar discussion rather than a polished lecture, giving a direct look at how a graduate course on learning and technology argues through competing models rather than just presenting conclusions.