This study investigated the influence of cognitive support for learning computer-based tasks using animated demonstration (AD) on instructional efficiency. Cognitive support included (1) segmentation and learner control introducing interactive devices that allow content sequencing through a navigational menu, and content pacing through stop and…

Learning with instructional animations may overstretch limited working memory resources due to intense processing demands associated with transient information. The authors investigated whether explicit instructional advice coupled with a task-specific learner control mechanism (such as a timeline scrollbar) could facilitate the successful…

This review of the literature on five learner control variables in computer-based instruction concludes that: (1) pacing left to learner control has been found ineffective because learners tend to procrastinate or to exit lessons prematurely; (2) sequence, or content flow, has been an ineffective variable left under learner control since…

Research in the field of computer based instruction (CBI) has led to conflicting evidence on the efficacy of learner control over instruction. Typical implementations of learner control in CBI allow learners to proceed at their own pace, control the sequence of instruction, choose the amount of practice, or decide the level of difficulty…

Discussion of learner control in instructional management describes six learner control methods: (1) content control; (2) sequence control; (3) pace control; (4) display or strategy control; (5) internal processing control; and (6) advisor strategies. Relevant literature, both theoretical and empirical, is reviewed, and learner control and…

For college students learning concepts, the advisement condition resulted in better performance than the learner control condition and needed less instructional time than the adaptive control condition. Results also indicated that students given concepts simultaneously performed better and needed less instruction than those who received concepts…

Senior high students who were given concepts simultaneously learned more than those who received concepts successively. A second variable, instructional control strategy, contrasted an adaptive (computer-assisted) control strategy with learner control. Performance was above the criterion level for the adaptive condition, but below it for learner…

Student attitudes were investigated in an attempt to determine systematic attitudinal differences among various types of instructional control. Ninety-nine undergraduate students from a basic educational media course volunteered for this study. Six interactive video lessons--covering basic technical aspects of 35 millimeter photography--were…

Discusses research on learner control, pacing, and sequence, and describes a study of undergraduates that was conducted to determine the effects of learner versus program control of pacing and sequence in an interactive video lesson on photography. Results are analyzed, and suggestions for further research are given. (38 references) (LRW)