Hypermedia as a Cognitive Tool: Student Teachers' Experiences in Learning by Doing

This study investigates student teachers’ opinions about learning “instructional technology and material preparation” subjects in a hypermedia-based constructivist learning context. A qualitative case study design was employed. The students of one classroom were the focus of an in-depth investigation by means of interviews, which were designed to elicit these students’ perceptions concerning the use of hypermedia as a cognitive tool in the learning process. The study sample consisted of twenty-eight second-year students who enrolled in the Instructional Technology and Material Preparation Course in the Fall of 2001 at Middle East Technical University in Ankara, Turkey. The study lasted fourteen weeks (two hours per week). In the group, high, average, and low achievers (based on their GPAs), and both males and females were represented. An interview schedule consisting of sixteen questions was designed to obtain the students’ opinions about developing hypermedia as a cognitive tool to learn the subject. The data collected through the interviews were subjected to content analysis. The results indicate that the majority of the students preferred the hypermedia-based constructivist learning environment in the course to a traditional learning environment. The students thought that the hypermedia-based constructivist learning environment helped them learn the subject matter more effectively.