Effects of fading support on hypertext navigation and performance in student-centered e-learning environments

Whether fading support for problems affects accuracy of hypertext navigation and problem performance is investigated in this study. In a student-centered elearning environment conceptual support is added to help domain novices get an overview of the problem domain, while strategic support is provided to help domain novices get insight into the problem demands. It is assumed that such support helps learners because it lowers the cognitive load of navigation. This frees up cognitive capacity for learning provided that the support fades and becomes less intrusive as a function of learner expertise. It is hypothesized that fading support during practice helps learners navigate more accurately during practice and achieve a higher practice and test performance as compared to learners receiving full support or no support during practice. This study confirms the beneficial effects of fading support on navigation but no effects of fading were found on practice and test performance.