Time as a variable in learning on the World-Wide Web

Research in education, psychology, and neuroscience motivates a hypothesis that learning takes time. Support for the hypothesis was found in four replications of an upper level undergraduate course in which the material and activities for 50% of the topics were delivered over the World-Wide Web. Computer records were correlated with three types of test questions: multiple-choice, short-answer, and open-ended essay questions. Positive and significant correlations with time were observed for 33% of the correlations involving multiple-choice questions, 13% of those involving short-answer questions, and 60% of those involving open-ended essay questions. An estimate of the common underlying correlation, ρ, equal to .35 for the four replications was significant. The data also revealed generally low overall study times and a maladaptive pattern of “cramming” before tests instead of distributing practice. In the Discussion section, we argue that computer study times can be used as a predictor of subsequent test performance, which is a measure of student learning.

[1]  Jum C. Nunnally,et al.  Psychometric Theory— 25 Years Ago and Now1 , 1975 .

[2]  A. Ralph Hakstian.  The Effects of Type of Examination Anticipated on Test Preparation and Performance. , 1971 .

[3]  Jane A. Stallings.  Allocated Academic Learning Time Revisited, or Beyond Time on Task , 1980 .

[4]  James L. McClelland,et al.  Why there are complementary learning systems in the hippocampus and neocortex: insights from the successes and failures of connectionist models of learning and memory. , 1995, Psychological review.

[5]  H. Simon,et al.  Invariants of human behavior. , 1990, Annual review of psychology.

[6]  L. Hedges,et al.  Statistical Methods for Meta-Analysis , 1987 .

[7]  W S Maki,et al.  Evaluation of a Web-based introductory psychology course: II. Contingency management to increase use of on-line study aids , 2000, Behavior research methods, instruments, & computers : a journal of the Psychonomic Society, Inc.

[8]  F. N. Dempster,et al.  Spacing effects and their implications for theory and practice , 1989 .

[9]  Benjamin S. Bloom,et al.  Time and learning. , 1974 .

[10]  Roman Taraban,et al.  Computer-Based Comprehension Research in a Content Area , 1998 .

[11]  H. Walberg.  Improving the Productivity of America's Schools. , 1984 .

[12]  Chris Dede,et al.  The evolution of distance education: Emerging technologies and distributed learning , 1996 .

[13]  John R. Anderson.  Cognitive Psychology and Its Implications , 1980 .

[14]  Thomas K. Landauer,et al.  How Much do People Remember? Some Estimates of the Quantity of Learned Information in Long-Term Memory , 1986, Cogn. Sci..

[15]  Lauren A. Sosniak,et al.  Developing Talent in Young People , 1985 .

[16]  N. Charness,et al.  Expert Performance Its Structure and Acquisition , 2002 .

[17]  David E. Wiley,et al.  Explosion of a Myth: Quantity of Schooling and Exposure to Instruction, Major Educational Vehicles1 , 1974 .

[18]  W S Maki,et al.  Measuring study time distributions: Implications for designing computer-based courses , 1999, Behavior research methods, instruments, & computers : a journal of the Psychonomic Society, Inc.

[19]  Alan F. Smeaton,et al.  An analysis of the use of virtual delivery of undergraduate lectures , 1999, Comput. Educ..

[20]  J. Carroll.  A Model of School Learning , 1963, Teachers College Record: The Voice of Scholarship in Education.