Effective teaching of economics: A constrained optimization problem?

One of the fundamental tenets of economics is that decisions are often the result of optimization problems subject to resource constraints. Consumers optimize utility, subject to constraints imposed by prices and income. As economics faculty, instructors attempt to maximize student learning while being constrained by their own and students' limited resources. Some resources are familiar and might be under instructors' control, such as time, class size, and access to technology. Beyond their control is an often neglected resource: students' limited cognitive processing capacity. Ceteris paribus, how can instructors effectively manage the limited processing capacity of students' working memory in order to optimize long-term learning through effective instructional design?