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Abstract: The history of this issue can really be traced back to an annual internal conference of the <a href="http://iet.open.ac.uk/research/calrg/home.cfm" target="xref">Computers and Learning Research Group</a> at the Open University. I had been invited to attend as a discussant, and as I listened to the papers, I was struck by the diversity of theories that people were drawing upon, and the very different ways in which they were using them. For some, a theory was a touchstone, a guiding set of principles, the foundation on which their work built. For others, theories were tools, and the important thing was having the right one for the job. What, I wondered, was the right way to use theory here? Should we believe in them, live them, and risk being dogmatic — or should we be pluralistic, tied to none, and risk being superficial?Editors: <A href="http://www.ucl.ac.uk/epd/profiles/mo.html" target=xref>Martin Oliver</A> (UC London, UK) (Guest Editor)