In this article, the authors comment on Eric Fox's description of functional contextualism which makes several contributions to instructional design and technology (IDT). They agree that functional contextualism does indeed provide some "theoretical clarity and philosophical cohesion," not just for constructivism, but also for understanding instruction and instructional design theory in general. Moreover, they believe that Fox's article does a great service to instructional design and technology by raising awareness of functional contextualism, for this world view is well suited to the needs of a goal-oriented discipline dedicated to improving the means of fostering human learning and development. Thus, they encourage theorists, researchers, and practitioners to carefully consider using both the philosophical grounding and theoretical framework it affords, as tools to help in advancing IDT knowledge about instruction and the instructional design process. Collaborations between practitioners and researchers or theorists are especially promising for advancing this knowledge within a functional contextualist framework.