PSYCHOLOGY MASTER'S THESIS ABSTRACT

Edwin De Ferrante

Industrial/Organizational
December 1992
 

Learning Theory Aids and the Design of Computer-Assisted Instruction
 

    This study investigated the effects that learning aids had on a computer-assisted instructional (CAI) typing program.  It was hypothesized that subjects’ typing performance, attitudes and motivational scores would be positively affected when utilizing several leaning aids.  Thirty-two male and female introductory typing students were randomly assigned to one of two groups (i.e., low versus high use of learning aids).  The experimental design was a mixed design using between subjects analyses on pretest and posttest trials.  The results from this study indicate that learning aids had a significant effect at p < 05. on both adjusted words per minute typing scores and attitude and motivational scores.  This suggests that the use of such learning aids are critical when learning to type for both performance and continued motivation and may have much broader applications for other forms of computer-assisted instruction.

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