A Comparison of the Effectiveness of Two Computer-Based Learning Aids

Piers D L Howe,Meredith Mckague,Jason M Lodge

doi:10.3389/feduc.2018.00051

Piers D L Howe, Meredith Mckague + Show 1 more

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https://doi.org/10.3389/feduc.2018.00051

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Abstract

Instructors are increasingly using computer-based educational technologies to augment their courses. As answering quizzes has been shown to be one of the most effective learning strategies, a growing number of computer-based learning aids use quizzing. So which of these learning aids should instructors recommend to their students? These learning aids typically either present the student with a number of potential answers and require that they recognize the correct answer (i.e., a multiple-choice quiz) or else they might require the student to recall the answer without assistance (i.e., a free recall quiz). Numerous lab-based studies have shown that recall-based quizzes promote more learning and result in higher performance in a subsequent exam/test than recognition-based quizzes. In the present study, we investigated to what extent this finding holds in an actual university setting with two commercially-available learning aids. We found that while both types of learning aid proved to be effective, we could find no evidence that the recall-based learning aid was more effective than the recognition-based learning aid. In light of this, we discuss possible reasons why the laboratory findings did not readily translate to an actual university setting and make practical recommendations for what sort of computer-based learning aid instructors should incorporate into their university courses.

Highlights

The purpose of educational technology is to facilitate learning (Robinson et al, 2016)
The degree of confidence induced by the learning aid was 7.48 (SEM = 0.17) for Cram and 6.35 (SEM = 0.17) for PeerWise
The two learning aids assist only the first form of learning: remembering or retrieval (Marzano’s new taxonomy). They are likely to be helpful only for superficial learning. We found that both computer-based learning aids were effective in that participation with either learning aid was correlated with higher performance in the final exam even when student ability and participation with the other learning aid was discounted

Summary

Introduction

The purpose of educational technology is to facilitate learning (Robinson et al, 2016). Computer-based learning aids are becoming increasingly popular (Liaw et al, 2007). It has been shown that taking a quiz improves long-term retention more than spending an equivalent amount of time restudying the material (Roediger and Karpicke, 2006; Karpicke and Roediger, 2008). This effect is especially pronounced if feedback is given (Kang et al, 2007; Roediger and Butler, 2011). This testing effect, whereby engaging in effortful retrieval improves memory for the material studied, has been widely demonstrated in laboratory settings (Roediger and Butler, 2011; Roediger et al, 2011), but studies in actual educational contexts have produced mixed results (Karpicke et al, 2014; Nguyen and McDaniel, 2015; Trumbo et al, 2016)

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