Costs and Benefits of More Learner Freedom

Abstract

Objective: Individual meta-analyses were conducted for six training methods as part of a U.S. Army basic research project. The objective was to identify evidence-based guidelines for the effectiveness of each training method, under different moderating conditions, for cognitive skill transfer in adult learning. Results and implications for two of these training methods, learner control (LC) and exploratory learning (EL), are discussed. LC provides learners with active control over training variables. EL requires learners to discover relationships and interactions between variables.Background: There is mixed evidence on the effectiveness of both LC and EL learning methods on transfer relative to more guided training methods. Cognitive load theory (CLT) provides a basis for predicting that training strategies that manage intrinsic load of a task during training and minimize extraneous load will avail more resources that can be devoted to learning.Method: Meta-analyses were conducted using a Hedges's g analysis of effect sizes. Control conditions with little to no learner freedom were contrasted with treatment conditions manipulating more learner freedom.Results: Overall more LC was no different from training with limited or no learner control, and more EL was less effective than limited or no exploration; however, each can be effective under certain conditions. Both strategies have been more effective for cognitive skill learning than for knowledge recall tasks. LC exhibited more benefit to very near transfer, whereas EL's benefit was to far transfer.Conclusion: Task type, transfer test, and transfer distance moderate the overall transfer cost of more learner freedom.Application: The findings are applicable to the development of instructional design guidelines for the use of LC and EL in adult skill training.

Learning Neuroscience with Technology: a Scaffolded, Active Learning Approach

“…Further investigation should differentiate contributions from these multiple components of game design. Alternatively, learner control may be more appropriate for older learners or online procedural training rather than the cognitive knowledge and skills assessed here (Hannafin 1984; Carolan et al 2014; Karich et al 2014). These confounds prevented adequately testing the hypothesis that implementing learner control in a mobile device game facilitated learning.…”

Correlations Between Teaching Strategies in Biology, Learning Styles, and Student School Achievement: Implications for Inquiry Based Teaching

“…The key concept of inquiry-based teaching is the instruction as such, i.e., different types of guidance by teachers. (Carolan et al, 2014;D'Angelo et al, 2014;Lazorden & Harmisen, 2016). Students who have some kind of guidance are better able to solve tasks, more successful in gathering current information and better in achieving results on learning tests after the research work.…”

“…Teachers provide different degrees of guidance during student research (Banchi & Bell, 2008) Н Teachers provide more than one instruction in order to optimize learning outcomes (Ku et al, 2014). Guided research has a number of advantages over open, non-guided research (Lazorden & Harmisen, 2016;Carolan et al, 2014;D'Angelo et al, 2014).…”

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“…Complex tasks possess many moving parts that interact with each other and change over time (Liu & Li, 2012;Wood, 1986). Although research has shown that active learning environments can be effective for training complex skills Carolan et al, 2014;Hughes et al, 2013), the empirical evidence is largely mixed (Kirschner et al, 2006). Task complexity strains learners' cognitive capacities to make sense of the task environment and encode concepts into long-term memory (Kalyuga, 2009).…”

“…Game-based learning is the use of an interactive, learner-controlled environment with clear rules and objectives, in which learners receive immediate feedback on their actions (Sitzmann, 2011;Vogel et al, 2006). These features of game-based learning enable learners to explore and experiment with different actions, which can motivate continued practice and facilitate deeper processing of training content, thus promoting transfer of skills to a broader range of anticipated and unanticipated demands Carolan et al, 2014).…”