Learning Directly From Screen? Oh-No, I Must Print It! Metacognitive Analysis of Digitally Presented Text Learning

Most people, including our survey participants, believe that they learn less efficiently when reading from a computer screen than when reading from paper. We investigated the validity of this belief within a metacognitive framework for self-regulated learning. In three experiments, participants studied expository texts presented on paper or on screen, either in a self-regulated manner, or according to a fixed study-time schedule. They predicted their performance on memory and comprehension questions before being tested. Objective performance, subjective metacognitive monitoring, and control of study time were measured. The interrelationships between these variables and the learning media were analyzed within an adapted discrepancy-reduction framework (Dunlosky & Hertzog, 1998). Onscreen learners performed worse than on-paper learners under selfregulated study, but not under a fixed study-time schedule. They also exhibited less calibrated (more overconfident) monitoring and a weaker relationship between monitoring and control of study time than did on-paper learners. Hence, an on-screen learning deficit was in fact observed, which appears to derive from less efficient metacognitive regulatory processes rather than from ergonomic factors per se. This study highlights the potential of the metacognitive approach for clarifying the source of differences in learning processes, and for pointing toward appropriate means of improving these processes. Rakefet Ackerman