Since 1983, the Instructional Theory Framework (ITF) (and its subsequent improvements) has guided instructional designers and researchers in designing and developing useful learner experiences (LX). For the past 40 years, the ITF was laser-focused on the selection of instructional methods, downplaying delivery methods (media) and management methods. The instructional design field continues to produce immature and confounded "research-to-prove" studies that do not provide guidance that is useful to practitioners. For more useful guidance, we suggest that researchers should embrace "research-to-improve" for studying immature methods and media, and "research-to-prove" for studying mature methods and media. In this paper, we discuss problems associated with proving versus improving, situational deficiencies, and confounding; we present a new version of the ITF that embraces media; and we then answer four key questions about (1) kinds of media knowledge, (2) forms of media knowledge, (3) research methods that deliver the knowledge, and (4) suggestions for editors and reviewers to embrace new media knowledge.