Varying Tutorial Modality and Interface Restriction to Maximize Transfer in a Complex Simulation Environment.

In 2 experiments, 241 undergraduates with low domain knowledge viewed a tutorial on how to use Packet Tracer (PT), a computer-networking training simulation developed by the Cisco Networking Academy. Participants were then tested on retention of tutorial content and transfer using PT. Tutorial modality (text, narration, or narration plus text) was varied betweens subjects in both experiments, and simulation interface restriction (restricted or unrestricted) was varied between subjects only in Experiment 1. When PT's interface was unrestricted, students who received the narration tutorial performed better on the transfer task compared with students who received the text tutorial (statistically significant in Experiment 1 but not in Experiment 2). These findings extend the cognitive theory of multimedia learning (Mayer, 2005) by testing modality effects in new contexts and further specifying conditions of its applicability.

[1]  R. Almond,et al.  Focus Article: On the Structure of Educational Assessments , 2003 .

[2]  Gregory Schraw,et al.  Conceptions of Efficiency: Applications in Learning and Problem Solving , 2010 .

[3]  Lloyd P. Rieber,et al.  The Cambridge Handbook of Multimedia Learning: Multimedia Learning in Games, Simulations, and Microworlds , 2005 .

[4]  John Sweller,et al.  Cognitive Load During Problem Solving: Effects on Learning , 1988, Cogn. Sci..

[5]  G. A. Miller.  THE PSYCHOLOGICAL REVIEW THE MAGICAL NUMBER SEVEN, PLUS OR MINUS TWO: SOME LIMITS ON OUR CAPACITY FOR PROCESSING INFORMATION 1 , 1956 .

[6]  Slava Kalyuga.  Expertise Reversal Effect and Its Implications for Learner-Tailored Instruction , 2007 .

[7]  P. Chandler,et al.  Why Some Material Is Difficult to Learn , 1994 .

[8]  Priya K. Nihalani,et al.  When Feedback Harms and Collaboration Helps in Computer Simulation Environments: An Expertise Reversal Effect , 2011 .

[9]  Yao-Ting Sung,et al.  Learning through computer‐based concept mapping with scaffolding aid , 2001 .

[10]  A. Paivio.  Mental Representations: A Dual Coding Approach , 1986 .

[11]  Slava Kalyuga,et al.  The Expertise Reversal Effect , 2003 .

[12]  C. Penney.  Modality effects and the structure of short-term verbal memory , 1989, Memory & cognition.

[13]  J. Herrington,et al.  Authentic Learning Supported by Technology: Ten suggestions and cases of integration in classrooms , 2007 .

[14]  Ann L. Brown,et al.  How people learn: Brain, mind, experience, and school. , 1999 .

[15]  Paul Ginns.  Meta-Analysis of the Modality Effect. , 2005 .

[16]  Richard E. Mayer,et al.  e-Learning and the Science of Instruction: Proven Guidelines for Consumers and Designers of Multimedia Learning , 2002 .

[17]  John Sweller,et al.  The Redundancy Principle in Multimedia Learning , 2005, The Cambridge Handbook of Multimedia Learning.

[18]  Robert J. Mislevy,et al.  Psychometric and Evidentiary Approaches to Simulation Assessment in Packet Tracer Software , 2009, 2009 Fifth International Conference on Networking and Services.

[19]  Etienne Wenger,et al.  Situated Learning: Legitimate Peripheral Participation , 1991 .

[20]  Margaret E. Gredler,et al.  Games and Simulations and Their Relationships to Learning , 2013 .

[21]  F. Paas,et al.  Cognitive Architecture and Instructional Design , 1998 .

[22]  Krista E. DeLeeuw,et al.  A Comparison of Three Measures of Cognitive Load: Evidence for Separable Measures of Intrinsic, Extraneous, and Germane Load , 2008 .

[23]  Cheryl I. Johnson,et al.  Revising the Redundancy Principle in Multimedia Learning. , 2008 .

[24]  Richard E. Mayer,et al.  Multimedia Learning , 2001, Visible Learning Guide to Student Achievement.

[25]  P. Chandler,et al.  THE SPLIT‐ATTENTION EFFECT AS A FACTOR IN THE DESIGN OF INSTRUCTION , 1992 .

[26]  P. Chandler,et al.  Assimilating complex information , 2002 .

[27]  J. Sweller,et al.  Cognitive Load Theory and Complex Learning: Recent Developments and Future Directions , 2005 .

[28]  Richard Mayer,et al.  Multimedia Learning , 2001, Visible Learning Guide to Student Achievement.