During the 2005-2006 academic year, the impact of IRIS Modules on student learning was conducted to examine how factors related to instructor application of the principles of the How People Learn theory (HPL) affect student learning. The module's content pertained to teaching self-regulation strategies to students. In an introductory class at a large state university aimed primarily at general and special education majors, and with multiple sections offered each semester, three instructors taught the course one semester using the IRIS Module as an independent assignment, considered low HPL (Independently Viewed condition) and the next semester by including portions of the IRIS Module in one of their lectures and then leading a discussion on the module's Initial Thoughts questions, considered high HPL (Instructor Enhanced condition). A total of 480 students were involved across these sections and two conditions. Students in each condition were administered a pretest and post-test, which were composed of both multiple-choice (or closed-ended) and free-response (or open-ended) questions and which presented several scenarios related to teaching self-regulation strategies to students. Responses to these questions involved the application of content covered by the module. The difference between the two module conditions was significantly different with the Viewed Independently group doing somewhat less well on the post-test. Although it was the case that the average post-test score was significantly higher for students in the Instructor-enhanced condition, the gain in learning for both conditions was the same. That is, the difference in post-test scores between the Independently Viewed condition and the Instructor-Enhanced condition was primarily attributable to the fact that students in the former group scored lower on the pretest. This pattern was evident for each of the three instructors.