The Effects of Extraneous Load on the Relationship Between Self-Regulated Effort and Germane Load Within an E-Learning Environment

Abstract

Online instructors need to avoid unclear and confusing explanations of content, which can reduce the quality of learning. Extraneous load is reflective of poor instruction, in that it directs student effort towards processing information that does not contribute to learning. However, students may be able to manage poor instruction through effort regulation. Students who show high levels of effort have been shown to overcome poor instruction in some cases. This study analyzed survey responses from South Korean university students studying online (n = 1,575) to examine the relationship between self-regulated effort and germane load within varying extraneous load conditions. The experimental design separated extraneous load responses into three conditions (low, medium, high). Within each extraneous load condition, self-regulated effort responses were also separated (low, medium, high). The results showed that as extraneous load increased, self-regulated effort had a weaker relationship with germane load. It was also found that the use of effort regulation is effective only when dealing with low and mid-level extraneous load situations and that use of such strategies within high extraneous load situations was not effective. These results show the importance of imp roving instruction to reduce extraneous cognitive load, in that, not even high levels of effort can overcome poor quality instruction.

The effects of self-regulated learning and cognitive load on beginning to watch and completing video lectures at a cyber-university

“…It has been shown that having higher levels of SRE helps learners overcome extraneous load (Lange and Costley 2017). It is predicted that results from this study will show that students who perceive higher levels of SRE will perceive lower levels of extraneous and intrinsic load while perceiving higher levels of germane load.…”

“…H4a and H4b stated that SRE would have a negative relationship with extraneous load and a positive one with germane load. Previous studies have demonstrated that effort regulation has a positive affect with overcoming middle-to-lower levels of extraneous load (Lange and Costley 2017). Lange and Costley (2017) found a negative relationship between extraneous load and SRE, emphasizing that, as instruction becomes more unclear, effort levels drop.…”

“…Self-regulated effort and cognitive load theory CLT has been shown to be related to SRL. For example, it has been shown that using effort regulation helps learners overcome low-and mid-level amounts of extraneous load in content, but not high levels (Lange and Costley 2017). It has recently been suggested that, while there are challenges to overcome, SRL be more formally amalgamated into CLT (de Bruin and van Merriënboer, 2017).…”

“…While studies have investigated the relationship between instructional design and engagement with video lectures (Costley et al 2017), student engagement with learning resources and tasks and SRE (Hood et al, 2015;Jeong and Hmelo-Silver, 2010;Kizilcec et al, 2017;Littlejohn et al, 2016;Spence and Usher, 2007;Sun and Rueda, 2012;You, 2016) and others have investigated the relationship between SRE and CLT (Lange and Costley 2017), this paper seeks to shed some light on two relationships. First, the relationship between SRE and video lecture viewership will be examined.…”

The moderating effects of intrinsic load on the relationship between self‐regulated effort and germane load

“…A link to the survey was then posted on the main administrative board of the OCU, inviting students to participate. Students who visited the main administrative board then filled out the survey, which generated a random representative sample of the population of the OCU (Lange, Costley, & Han, ).…”