Discussion of the design of computer menus focuses on two experiments that examined task time across several orderings of menu lists. Findings are described that demonstrated that good physical layout in screen design is not sufficient without good conceptual layout. The size of menu lists for maximizing efficiency is considered. (Contains 17…

Describes a study of undergraduates that compared three strategies for indicating links in a hypermedia system to determine their effect on learner navigation and learner perceptions of ease of use. Highlights include three linking display types; the density of links; elaboration types; time intervals; and implications for hypermedia system…

Discussion of hypertext systems and navigation focuses on a study conducted with undergraduates at Clemson University (South Carolina) that compared a hypertext browsing system with a linearly based system for accessing information concerning college transfer courses. Results indicate that user perceptions and performance are more favorable with…

The effect of instructional analogy training on the level of immediate, as well as 14-day delay, comprehension of tangible and intangible physiological concepts was investigated. Ninety-four college-aged subjects were given training either with or without instructional analogies over five tangible and five intangible advanced physiological…

Freshman botany students, graduate students, and student library assistants participated in a study to determine the effectiveness of a self-paced workbook on learning library skills in searching science literature and to determine staff and funding requirements to run larger scale instructional programs. The botany students comprised four groups.…

Three conditions of self-monitoring of private study were compared for their effects on academic performance and intrinsic motivation. In end-of-year examinations, a group who self-monitored subgoals outperformed groups who self-monitored either time or study or distal goals on the target course of the investigation. (Author/LMO)

College students with varying degrees of prior conceptual understanding of a scientific topic were randomly assigned to a program-controlled or a learner-controlled treatment in a sequence of computer-assisted video learning. (Author/LMO)

Describes study that examined the effects of presentation sequence of examples and example difficulty on undergraduate learning with computer-based instruction. Establishing example difficulty according to a generalization formula versus subject matter experts is discussed, and effects on time on task and the number of examples required are…

Describes a study that was conducted at Tilburg University (The Netherlands) to test the impact of system and domain knowledge on search behavior in an online catalog. Highlights include time spent on task; the number of search patterns performed; and search patterns used most frequently. (11 references) (LRW)

Describes a study of college students that examined the instructional effect of visual and verbal metaphors in facilitating student achievement of different educational objectives. The effect of students' verbal ability and the amount of time they spent interacting with their respective instructional modules were also measured. (Author/LRW)

Describes a study of college students that investigated whether various types of visual illustrations influenced abstract concept learning when combined with audio instruction. Discusses results of analysis of variance and pretest posttest scores in relation to learning performance, attitudes toward the computer-based program, and differences in…

Discussion of hypertext structures focuses on three studies of preservice teachers that assessed the effects of different methods of explicitly mapping expert knowledge structures onto hypertext on the acquisition of structural knowledge. Topics addressed include time on task, semantic networking, cognitive limitations of browsing behavior, and…

A study of undergraduate students investigated whether different rehearsal strategies are more effective in facilitating achievement, whether certain rehearsal strategies require learners to spend more time interacting with instructional content, and whether verbal or visual testing requires students to spend more time processing and responding to…

Describes a study of college students that was conducted to investigate the effect of two review strategies on the recall of information from an interactive video program. Treatments for the active review group, the passive review group, and the control group are described. Recall posttests and amount of time required to complete the instruction…

Describes a study of undergraduates that compared the effects of response-certitude adaptive and nonadaptive feedback in a computer-based lesson of verbal information and defined concept tasks. Effects on student performance, feedback-study time, and lesson efficiency are discussed, and implications for future research are suggested. (LRW)