The effect of questioning on concept learning within a hypertext system

Two studies report upon the effect of asking learners to answer questions when learning in a hypertext environment, even when no immediate feedback is given to learners about the appropriateness of their responses. Such questions may be useful as a means to induce responses that can be used to monitor learning, but here the hypothesis was investigated that their inclusion would also improve learning directly. In the first study, 80 student teachers answered embedded multiple-choice questions that encouraged analysis of examples. Concept learning achieved using this environment was significantly reduced when compared with an environment requiring no such responses. In the second study, a cohort of 68 students were asked to summarise the information illustrated by the examples. Here, learning was significantly improved as compared with the no-response condition.