This paper reports on responses of 645 students (N = 6540) on 4 University of London (UoL) distance learning courses to a variety of course components. Published research on best practice in student learning stresses the value of active learning and of student collaboration. By contrast, our respondents report that they regard more active…

Two experiments investigated how writing an explanation after studying a multimedia lesson influences restudy behavior (eye movements) and learning. In Experiment 1, college students who wrote a retention-based explanation ('Explain how the car's brake system works') spent more time focusing on the text and less time on the picture during the…