Decreasing Cognitive Load for Novice Students: Effects of Explanatory versus Corrective Feedback in Discovery-Based Multimedia

Abstract

This paper examines one of the potentialroles that software agents may have inhelping students reduce working memoryload while learning from discovery-basedmultimedia environments: providingexplanatory feedback. Two studiesexamined the guided feedbackhypothesis according to which, discoverylearning environments that use explanatoryfeedback (EF) to guide novice students inthe process of meaning making promotedeeper learning than those that presentidentical materials using correctivefeedback (CF) alone. In both experiments,the EF group produced higher transferscores, rated the computer game as morehelpful, and gave comparable interest andmotivation ratings than the CF group. Mental load rating scales providedevidence in both experiments that EF waseffective due to reductions in cognitiveload. Results support the use of agentguidance in the form of EF for novicestudents who learn with discovery-basedmultimedia games.