Exploration of hypermedia environments: Learner-control and adaptive user strategies

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Peter Gerjets
• Subject Area: Developmental and Educational Psychology
• Term: from 2003 to 2009
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 5414364

This project investigates the promises and drawbacks of hypermedia exploration for acquiring knowledge on mathematical solution procedures in the domain of stochastics/statistics. One focus of this research is on the question whether well-established principles of efficient multimedia design will apply to self-controlled hypermedia learning. Another objective is to augment the prevailing presentation-oriented approach to multimedia learning by a utilization-oriented perspective. Thereby, the aim is to yield insights into the learning processes afforded by providing multiple external representations and into learners` strategic abilities with regard to adaptive information utilization. These issues are addressed in two experimental studies that investigate how different learning-outcome measures as well as learners` strategies of information utilization are affected by the degree of learner control, by different representation codes (textual, arithmetical, pictorial), and by different sensory modalities (visual and auditory).

• DFG Programme: Research Grants
• Participating Persons: Professor Dr. Friedrich Wilhelm Hesse; Professorin Dr. Katharina Scheiter