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Incidental Learning in Hypemedia Environments: The Impact of Individual Differences and Spatial Overviews
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, University of Alberta, Canada ; , Concordia University College of Alberta, Canada ; , University of Alberta, Canada ; , Queens University, Canada

EdMedia + Innovate Learning, in Montreal, Canada ISBN 978-1-880094-56-3 Publisher: Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education (AACE), Waynesville, NC

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Abstract

Educational activities often require students to conduct hypermedia information tasks. The intent of these tasks is generally to find information pursuant to a learning objective. However, the task itself could be viewed as a learning opportunity since students unintentionally learn peripheral material to the target material as they search through electronic sources. This study investigates the impact of two facets of hypermedia use on incidental learning in a search task: the visual cues used in a spatial overview of the document, and individual differences in spatial and memory skills of users. Students were tested on two measures of spatial ability and two measures of memory skill and randomly assigned to three different navigation tools. The results showed that the visual cues used in the navigation tools did not predict incidental learning. However, individual differences in spatial visualization and short-term memory span predicted incidental and unintentional learning.

Citation

Boechler, P., Steffler, D., Dawson, M. & Mansour, J. (2005). Incidental Learning in Hypemedia Environments: The Impact of Individual Differences and Spatial Overviews. In P. Kommers & G. Richards (Eds.), Proceedings of ED-MEDIA 2005--World Conference on Educational Multimedia, Hypermedia & Telecommunications (pp. 3789-3794). Montreal, Canada: Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education (AACE). Retrieved January 21, 2021 from .

© 2005 Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education (AACE)

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References

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