Howard J. Sullivan

Continuing Motivation, Learner Control, and CAI

This study investigated the effects of learner control and program control on the achievement and continuing motivation of high school students. The influence of the availability of computer-delivered instruction on student motivation was also examined. Continuing motivation was measured by student choice of learner control or program control as the mode for a second instructional program after subjects completed an initial program under their randomly assigned mode. Results revealed a highly significant difference in continuing motivation favoring learner over program control. The differences in posttest performance and performance during instruction between learner and program control were not significant. The data also revealed significant preferences to study both science and an alternative subject when they are presented by computer over when they are not.

The Effect of Computer-Mediated Collaborative Learning on Solving Ill-Defined Problems.

The positive effects of collaborative learning in a face-to-face environment are well known. However, little empirical research exists to determine if such effects transfer to a computer-mediated environment. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of computer-mediated collaboration on solving ill-defined problems. Participants first worked through a Web-based instructional program that taught them a four-step problem-solving process. Then they worked in computer-mediated dyads or alone to apply the steps to solve a realistic problem scenario. Results indicated that participants who worked in computer-mediated collaborative dyads performed significantly better than did participants who worked alone. The results also indicated that dyads spent significantly more time than participants in the individual treatment. Both treatment groups had positive attitudes toward working collaboratively, Internet-based instruction, and transfer of problem-solving skills. Implications for the implementation of computer-mediated collaboration in distance learning are discussed.

Learner control in full and lean CAI programs

This study investigated the effects of two types of control over instruction (learner and program) and two modes of instructional programs (lean and full) on the achievement, option use, and time-in-program of 274 high-ability and low-ability students from grades 9 and 10. The basic instructional program in geometry was delivered by computer. Subjects under learner control scored significantly higher on the program posttest than those under program control, spent significantly more time in the program, and liked it better. Learner-control subjects appeared to “trust” their given version of the program, viewing many more optional screens in the full version than those in the lean one. High-ability learners adapted their study behavior to the lean version under learner control by choosing significantly more optional screens than their low-ability counterparts.

Preferences and learner control over amount of instruction

This study examined the effects of assigning high school students to a computer-delivered geometry program that either matched or did not match their preferred amount of instruction as measured by a preprogram questionnaire. Students could adjust their program length by adding screens in a lean version of the program or by bypassing them in a full version. Matching students with their preferred program length did not produce improved posttest achievement and was particularly ineffective with students who preferred a low amount of instruction. The full version of the program was somewhat more effective than the lean version, primarily because of the better performance of low-preference students in the full version (mismatched) than in the lean one (matched).

Matching Learner Preference to Amount of Instruction: An Alternative Form of Learner Control.

This study was conducted with 75 United States and Far East employees of a major corporation to investigate the effects of assigning learners to either the amount of instruction they preferred or to the contrasting amount. Subjects completed a 10-item Likert-type prequestionnaire to indicate whether they preferred a basic instructional program or a more comprehensive one, then were randomly assigned either to the type of program they preferred or to the opposite type. Subjects who received the amount of instruction that matched their preference scored significantly higher on the posttest, spent significantly less time in the program, and had significantly more positive attitudes on four of the six attitude items. Further research is recommended to determine the generalizability of the present findings to other subject populations.

Effect of personalization of instructional context on the achievement and attitudes of hispanic students

This study investigated the effects of three levels of personalization—individualized, group, and non-personalized—on the mathematics achievement of 123 seventh-grade Hispanic boys and girls. Personalization was accomplished by using personal information provided by students on a biographical inventory. Subjects were randomly assigned within sex to one of three versions of a two-day instructional program on one-step and two-step mathematics word problems. Subjects in both the individual and group personalization treatments scored significantly higher on the posttest than those in the nonpersonalized treatment on two-step word problems, but not on one-step problems. Subjects in the individualized treatment had significantly more positive attitudes toward the instruction than those in the other two treatments.

Practice mode and learner control in computer-based instruction

Abstract This study investigated the effects of practice mode and learner control in computer-based instruction on the achievement and continuing motivation of 152 seventh graders. Subjects were blocked by sex and randomly assigned to either recall practice or recognition practice and either program control or learner control in a computer-delivered instructional program. The recall practice mode produced significantly higher scores than the recognition mode on the recall portion of the 30-item post-test and slightly higher scores on the recognition portion. Overall results also favored program control over learner control. Recognition subjects selected significantly more enroute practice than recall subjects, but recall subjects took significantly longer to complete the program. Both male and female subjects showed a very strong preference for computer-based instruction over paper-based programs. The stronger overall achievement of subjects who received recall practice is explained in part by the greater depth of information processing required by recall practice than by recognition practice.

The impact of instructional elements in computer-based instruction

This study investigated the effects of several elements of instruction (objectives, information, practice, examples and review) when they were combined in a systematic manner. College students enrolled in a computer literacy course used one of six different versions of a computer-based lesson delivered on the web to learn about input, processing, storage and output of a computer. The six versions of the program consisted of (1) a full version that contained information plus objectives, practice with feedback, examples and review, (2) a version without objectives, (3) one without examples, (4) one without practice, (5) one without review and (6) a lean version containing information only. Results indicated participants who used one of the four versions of the computer program that included practice performed significantly better on the posttest and had consistently more positive attitudes than those who did not receive practice. Implications for the development of computer-based instruction are explored.

External Evaluation, Task Difficulty, and Continuing Motivation.

AbstractTwo-hundred fifty (250) fifth graders participated in this study of the effects of evaluation condition and task difficulty on motivation to return to an initial task. Two levels of difficulty (hard, easy) on the task were crossed with two levels of evaluation (teacher, self). Continuing motivation was measured both immediately after the initial task and two weeks later. Significant differences were obtained only on the immediate measure. The proportion of subjects returning to task was significantly higher under the easy version (.55) of the initial task than under the hard version (.40). This difference was due almost entirely to a much lower return rate under the hard task and teacher evaluation (.27) than under any other combination of conditions. Significant between-school differences were interpreted as indicating a consistent motivational effect related to reported expectations for achievement within each school. Results are discussed in terms of their implications for classroom practice.

Student Performance and Attitudes Using Personalized Mathematics Instruction

This study investigated the effects of personalized instruction on the achievement and attitudes of Taiwanese students on two-step mathematics word problems. A total of 136 fourth-graders in a Taiwanese public school participated in the study. Subjects initially completed a Student Survey on which they chose their favorite foods, sports, stores, classmates, and other selections. The most popular items were then used to create personalized math word problems for the pretest, personalized instructional program, and posttest. Subjects were blocked by ability based on their pretest scores and were randomly assigned within ability levels to either a personalized or nonpersonalized version of the print-based instructional program. After finishing the program, subjects completed a student attitude survey and the posttest. A repeated-measures univariate analysis of variance revealed that subjects in the personalized treatment made significantly greater pretest-to-posttest gains than those in the nonpersonalized treatment. Subjects also performed significantly better on the personalized pretest and posttest problems than on the nonpersonalized problems. Personalized subjects and higher-ability students both had significantly more positive attitudes toward the instructional program than did their nonpersonalized and lower-ability counterparts.