Exploring the Presentation and Format of Help in a Computer-Based Electrical Engineering Learning Environment

This study investigated whether it was more beneficial to provide the learners in computer-based learning environments access to on-demand (self-regulated) help after they committed an error in problem solving or for the learning environment to externally regulate the presentation of instructional help. Furthermore, two different presentational formats—textual and pictorial—of instructional prompts were examined. This study was conducted with a computer-based learning environment that introduced high school students without any prior content-specific knowledge to the principles of parallel and series electrical circuit analysis. We found that textual prompts facilitated problem solving statistically significantly better than pictorial prompts. Moreover, the learners provided with externally regulated prompts reported statistically significantly more positive attitudes toward the prompts than learners in the self-regulated conditions. Finally, the continuing motivation was statistically significantly stronger in learners who viewed textual prompts than in their counterparts in the pictorial prompt groups. Introduction and Related Work The computer-based instruction of electrical circuit analysis techniques has received a significant amount of interest over the last fifteen years, (see for instance Coulon, Forte & Rivera , 1993; Hanrahan & Caetano, 1989; Yoshikawa, Shintani & Ohba, 1992). A wide variety of computer-based instruction and tutoring systems with the aim to teach circuit analysis techniques and to provide opportunities for practicing circuit analysis have been developed and evaluated. Many of the developed systems interact with the learner to aid in impart ing the knowledge of the circuit analysis techniques and to provide feedback on learner input to practice problems. In the case of incorrect solutions the feedback is oftentimes accompanied by instructional prompts (help). These learner-program interactions are in the form of text and/or graphics and are controlled (presented) by the learner or the system. The impact of both the format and the control (presentation) of the instructional prompts in circuit analysis tutoring systems have not been previously examined in detail. This study extends the existing literature on computer-based instruction of electrical circuit analysis in that it examines the impact of the presentation and the format of the instructional prompts in electrical circuit tutoring systems . Schnackenberg, Sullivan, Leader, and Jones, (1998) provide an extensive overview of different studies on the control approaches up to their time of writing. More recently, Brown (2001) found that leaving the navigation of computer-based training to the learner tends to interfere with the instructional integrity of the learning environment, which is counterproductive. Schnackenberg et al. (1998) found that with learner control, the learners tend to skip practice examples, which tends to negatively affect learning. In the context of the highly structured content domain of the present study, namely electrical circuit analysis techniques, it appears that program controlled instructional design and navigation would be beneficial (Lawless & Kulikowich, 1998). Furthermore, program control might be especially advantageous for learners with low levels of prior knowledge in the domain area (Shin, Schallert & Savenye, 1994). Against this background, it is reasonable to assume that both subject-matter novices as well as technology neophytes should benefit from a program-control design. Overall, the issue of learner vs. external control has so far been primarily investigated in the context of navigating the instructional and/or practice material. We are not aware of a study on the impact of learner vs. external control of the provisioning of instructional prompts within a given practice problem, which is the focus of this study. How should the highly structured content on circuit analysis techniques be presented to learners in order to foster their initial knowledge acquisition and to introduce them to structured, algorithmic problem solving associated with electrical circuits? One theoretical approach that offers some guidance in this area is cognitive load theory, which provides the general guideline that the limited capacity of the working memory has