Giving the learners control of navigation: Cognitive gains and losses

• Main Authors: MAKANY, Tamas, ENGELBRECHT, Paula C., MEADMORE, Katie, DUDLEY, Richard, REDHEAD, Edward S., DROR, Itiel E.
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University 2007
• Subjects: E-learning; information foraging; spatial navigation; technology enhanced learning; user control; web design; Cognitive Psychology; Instructional Media Design
• Online Access: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/lkcsb_research/6644; https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/context/lkcsb_research/article/7643/viewcontent/makany_et_al_2007__1_.pdf
• Institution: Singapore Management University

E-learning often involves exploration of the information space that is somewhat similar to the exploration of space in the real world. Initial paths taken in any environment (be it a physical, virtual, or any other type) will not only guide the discoveries of what the environment contains, but also formulate the underlying organising principles. The suggested route in an art gallery frequently presents artworks that are either chronological or conceptually tied together. Deviating from this –and taking a route of our own, if at all possible– might be either confusing or insightful. The structure of the information, and the control that the learners have in exploring it, plays a major role in determining mental representations and learning. In the virtual world these possibilities and degrees of freedom in navigation are less constrained than in the physical world, and thus, can be colossal. The question that arises is what are the gains and losses of allowing the learners to control their explorations in an information space? To investigate this, we designed three e-learning environments that differed in their navigational possibilities and structure, but all contained the same eight topics to be learned. The topics in the first environment (Linear) were in a strict order and the layout did not allow any alternation from this defined sequence of page visits. With this Linear structure, the learners had very little control over their navigation as they could only continue to the next topic in this sequence or go back to the previous topic. The second environment (Star) partially restricted control by connecting the topics through a central index page. The third environment (Interconnected) gave full navigational control to the participants, as every topic was accessible from each of the other topics. Detailed navigational behaviour was recorded and learning efficiency was assessed. Participants answered questions immediately after the exposure of the hyperlinked pages and after a delay of two weeks in order to evaluate both short and long term learning outcomes. In this paper, we describe and interpret the results from the experiment with specific attention on how user control in e-learning can enhance efficiency in one case; while hinders it in others.