Practice schedules in a video-based software training arrangement

Abstract

Abstract This study investigated the effectiveness of two practice schedules in video-based software training. An experiment compared an arrangement with instructions followed by a blocked or an interleaved practice schedule for effects on flow, self-efficacy development and task performances. According to the contextual interference effect, there should be a trade-off between the effectiveness of these schedules during and after training. Participants were elementary school students who were novices in the Word training that was offered. The findings indicated that flow was positive across conditions, and that there was a trend favoring the blocked schedule. Self-efficacy after training was equally higher in both conditions. Performances of trained tasks during and after training were satisfactory. There was a trend favoring the blocked schedule on the immediate and transfer test. However, the present study found no empirical evidence for any significant differences between the conditions. Several possible accounts for this finding are presented. The practical take-away is that the findings support the predominant practice arrangement for video-based software training (i.e., a blocked schedule) in initial skills acquisition.