Cognitive Skills Acquisition in Life-Long Learning (Part 2)

This is the second special issue of the journal on the theme of cognitive skills acquisition in life-long learning. The first issue was focused more on the understanding of the processes that underlie the acquisition of cognitive skills. This issue provides some specific examples of those processes. The first three papers discuss the design methodology for developing learning systems for cognitive skills acquisition, whereas the last paper discusses the relationship between motivation and cognitive skills. Deborah Alpert Sleight in the first article of this issue describes comparable paper-based and computer-based performance support tools that help students acquire complex cognitive skills. The study is based on Ohlsson’s model of learning from performance errors and considers placement of support tools in the learning cycle. The second paper is written by Min Liu, who takes an innovative learn-bydesign approach towards multimedia education. The paper provides theoretical discussion with a comprehensive summary of the recent empirical studies on the effect of interactive multimedia learning environments at various school levels. These results are then brought together to draw conclusions regarding the value of multimedia design and resource management process as a means of developing various cognitive skills. The third paper in this issue is also focused on implementation aspects. SeJin Chung et al. describe support tools promoting self-explanation and selfmonitoring strategies in students’ learning process. They compare student performance in two such learning environments to determine their effectiveness in developing higher order cognitive skills.