An evaluation of factors affecting students' use of a web-based engineering resource

The introduction of Web-based resources to support learning and teaching in Higher education has prompted a plethora of research into their effectiveness. Of the studies that have examined the role of cognitive style and learning strategies, results have generally been rather inconclusive and contradictory. The purpose of this work was to investigate the relationship between a number of influential factors, including cognitive style and approach to learning, and students' processing behaviour during their use of a particular Web-based resource for Electronics and Electrical Engineering undergraduates. This was achieved through the development of a learner profile for each student using Riding's (1991) Cognitive Styles Analysis test (CSA) and Biggs, Kember and Leung's (2001) Revised Study Process Questionnaire (R-SPQ-2F). The quantitative component of the research was then set against a detailed analysis of students' processing behaviour using verbal protocol data gathered through individual think-aloud sessions and post-intervention interviews. The results of the quantitative component of the research provided no compelling evidence to suggest that cognitive style was a factor that influenced student performance while using the resource or their perceptions of the package. There was however some evidence to suggest that the package was more positively received by students' who profiled as deep learners than their surface counterparts. The analysis of students' processing behaviour from their verbal protocols highlighted a number of the resource's shortcomings, which typically promoted a surface, goalorientated approach to its content. It also identified problems with the design and structure of the resource, which at times had a deleterious effect on learning. The results also raised questions regarding the efficacy and use of psychometric inventories in this kind of research.