Matching Learner Preference to Preferred Amounts of Instruction
PROCEEDINGS
Heidi L. Schnackenberg
American Educational Research Association Annual Meeting,
Abstract
Some research indicates that individuals learn more when given control over their instruction, while other data suggests that individuals learn less effectively when given control over their instruction. This document describes a study which investigated the effects of matching university-level learners with the amount of instruction they prefer. Two hundred and three preservice teachers participated in the study. They completed a 10-item questionnaire about their preferences for high or low amounts of instruction. They were randomly assigned, sometimes according to preference and sometimes not, computer disks containing a "lean" or a "full" instructional program and told to complete the program within two weeks. Results include: (1) users of the full version scored higher on posttests than users of the lean version; (2) subjects who preferred a high amount of instruction had more positive attitudes toward the program than those who preferred lower amounts; (3) subjects assigned the lean version of the program generally had more positive attitudes than recipients of the full version; and (4) matching students to their preferred amount of instruction did not produce a significant difference in posttest achievement. Two appended tables illustrate the findings. (Contains 26 references.) (BEW)
Citation
Schnackenberg, H.L. (1996). Matching Learner Preference to Preferred Amounts of Instruction. Presented at American Educational Research Association Annual Meeting 1996. Retrieved August 11, 2024 from https://www.learntechlib.org/p/79368/.
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