Advisor

• Dr. Min Liu

Degree

• Doctoral

Abstract

One of the great promises of computer based instruction is the idea that someday the instruction could be adapted to meet the specific needs and styles of individual learners, thereby enhancing their learning. In order for this to happen educators need to know which instructional and presentation strategies, or combination thereof, are most effective for individuals with certain learning styles and differences in a given learning environment. Nonlinearity of instructional presentation and advance organizers were examined in relationship to learner self-regulation in this study. One hundred and nineteen undergraduate students were randomly assigned to one of six different hypermedia instructional treatments. Three levels of nonlinearity--high, medium, and low--were represented in the treatments. Each of the three treatments was further split into those with and without advance organizers. The students were also tested for self-regulated learning and split into three groups based on their scores. Data analysis of achievement measures showed two near significant (p = 0.052 & 0.054) interactions, between advance organizer by level of nonlinearity and level of nonlinearity by self-regulated learning. While the results were not statistically significant, they suggested relationships that can be examined in further studies.