The Use and Effect on Performance of Learner Control and Advisement in a Computer-Based Educational Statistics Lesson
Gray, David Michael
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Permalink
https://hdl.handle.net/2142/69175
Description
Title
The Use and Effect on Performance of Learner Control and Advisement in a Computer-Based Educational Statistics Lesson
Author(s)
Gray, David Michael
Issue Date
1988
Doctoral Committee Chair(s)
Linn, Robert L.,
Department of Study
Education
Discipline
Education
Degree Granting Institution
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Degree Name
Ph.D.
Degree Level
Dissertation
Keyword(s)
Education, Technology of
Education, Curriculum and Instruction
Abstract
One of the stated advantages of computer-based instruction is its ability to adapt to the needs of the individual learner. One recent approach has been to allow the learner to control various aspects of the instruction. However, some have suggested that learner control should be reserved for experienced users. Also, it has been suggested that giving learners advice concerning their learning needs would permit them to use learner control options more efficiently.
A total of 91 students from two introductory educational statistics courses participated in the study. Students were randomly assigned to one of four experimental treatments: learner control with advice, learner control without advice, program control with advice, and program control without advice. The students used a tutorial lesson on statistical inference which included a pretest and a posttest. The subject matter was new to students in the first semester course, but was review for the students in the second semester course. Students who received learner control were allowed to determine their own sequence of topics, to skip topics, to terminate instruction within a topic, to control the amount of feedback they received, and to take the posttest at anytime. Students who received advice were told how to use feedback on their pretest performance to guide their learning.
Test scores were analyzed using a repeated measures analysis of variance. There was significant gain between the pretest and posttest scores. No significant differences were found between the learner control and program control groups, or between the advice and no advice groups. The amount of time students spent in the lesson was analyzed with a two-factor analysis of variance. Students in the learner control group spent significantly less time in the lesson than students in the program control group. Skipping topics was the most widely used learner control option.
Although the treatments were not statistically significant, the combination of learner control and advice allowed students to spend less time in the lesson without impairing their performance. Future computer-based instruction should provide the students with some type of advice to guide their learning.
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