Expertise Reversal Effect and Its Implications for Learner-Tailored Instruction

The interactions between levels of learner prior knowledge and effectiveness of different instructional techniques and procedures have been intensively investigated within a cognitive load framework since mid-90s. This line of research has become known as the expertise reversal effect. Apart from their cognitive load theory-based prediction and explanation, patterns of empirical findings on the effect fit well those in studies of Aptitude Treatment Interactions (ATI) that were originally initiated in mid-60s. This paper reviews recent empirical findings associated with the expertise reversal effect, their interpretation within cognitive load theory, relations to ATI studies, implications for the design of learner-tailored instructional systems, and some recent experimental attempts of implementing these findings into realistic adaptive learning environments.     

Studying the effect of redundancy in a virtual reality classroom

Educational technology research and development - Redundancy effect has been investigated in many controlled experimental studies, however, it is seldom investigated whether the same redundant...     

Rethinking the Boundaries of Cognitive Load Theory in Complex Learning

Educational Psychology Review - In the traditional framework of cognitive load theory, it is assumed that the acquisition of domain-specific knowledge structures (or schemas) is the only...     

Exploring factors influencing the effectiveness of explicit instruction first and problem-solving first approaches

European Journal of Psychology of Education - Problem solving followed by explicit instruction, as suggested by productive failure and several other instructional theories, indicates long-term...     

Knowledge elaboration: A cognitive load perspective

The process of knowledge elaboration is considered from the perspective of cognitive load theory. This theory assumes that the available knowledge structures in long-term memory (LTM) are used to organize and guide cognitive processing in complex learning. Accordingly, the role of external instructional guidance in the process of knowledge elaboration could be described as providing a substitute for knowledge structures missing from LTM. Thus, the executive guidance in complex learning environments is shared between the person (based on his/her LTM knowledge structures) and another expert or instructional means. This article analyzes instructional implications of this assumption. Adaptive learning environments are suggested for tailoring knowledge elaboration processes to changing characteristics of individual learners. Means for identifying and predicting the learner's LTM-based executive guidance are proposed so that they can be utilized in the building of adaptive learning environments.     

Long-Term Effects of a Conceptual Physical Education Program

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the attitudes, knowledge, and activity behaviors of college graduates who completed a lecture-laboratory (concepts) course in physical education during their undergraduate study. Serving as controls were college graduates of the same university who transferred to the university and who received credit for a traditional rather than a concepts course. Both groups were compared to college graduates who “quizzed out” of the concepts course rather than enrolling in the class. Subjects were randomly selected from the 1977 and 1979 graduating classes. All those selected as subjects received a questionnaire containing an attitude test, a knowledge lest, and an activity checklist. Fifty-nine percent of the 300 questionnaires were returned. Multivariate analyses indicated that the concepts groups possessed attitude-knowledge-activity profiles which differed from those of either of the other groups. Though differences were not uniform for the two years studied, knowledge was consistently the greatest contributor to differences between transfer and concepts groups. Univariate and combined year analyses indicated that, though less consistent than the knowledge differences, attitude and activity differences among groups also existed. In general, the results suggested that a college level conceptual physical education class can have positive long term effects.     

Improvement of organizational performance and instructional design: An analogy based on general principles of natural information processing systems

The process of improving organizational performance through designing systemic interventions has remarkable similarities to designing instruction for improving learners' performance. Both processes deal with subjects (learners and organizations correspondingly) with certain capabilities that are exposed to novel information designed for producing a desired change. The article attempts to trace these similarities deeper to the underlying general principles that govern functioning of natural information processing systems that both human cognitive architecture (in case of instruction) and organizational systems may represent, and explores such connections and draws corresponding implications for research in human performance technology.     

Expertise reversal effect in using explanatory notes for readers of Shakespearean text

The reported study compared the instructional effectiveness of Modern English explanatory interpretations of Shakespearean play extracts integrated line by line into original Elizabethan English text, with a conventional unguided original text condition. Experiment 1 demonstrated that the explanatory notes group reported a lower cognitive load and performed better in a comprehension test than the control group when students had no prior knowledge of the text. In Experiment 2, a reverse effect occurred when the same material was presented to a group of Shakespearean experts. Experiment 3 replicated the results of Experiment 1 using a different Shakespearean play. The study demonstrated that the relative effectiveness of instructional conditions depended on learner levels of expertise. In accordance with the expertise reversal effect, the benefits of guided instruction reversed and became detrimental for learners with high prior knowledge levels. Retrospective verbal protocols indicated that the explanations were redundant for expert readers.     

Interactions between the isolated–interactive elements effect and levels of learner expertise: experimental evidence from an accountancy class

This study investigated interactions between the isolated–interactive elements effect and levels of learner expertise with first year undergraduate university accounting students. The isolated–interactive elements effect occurs when learning is facilitated by initially presenting elements of information sequentially in an isolated form rather than in a fully interactive form. The expertise reversal effect occurs when the relevant advantage of one instructional technique over another reverses depending on the learner’s level of expertise. The results provided support for the predicted interaction with lower expertise students benefitting from the isolated elements instructional method, while students with more expertise learned more from the interacting elements format.     

Cognitive Load Theory: How Many Types of Load Does It Really Need?

Cognitive load theory has been traditionally described as involving three separate and additive types of load. Germane load is considered as a learning-relevant load complementing extraneous and intrinsic load. This article argues that, in its traditional treatment, germane load is essentially indistinguishable from intrinsic load, and therefore this concept may be redundant. Contrary to extraneous and intrinsic load, germane cognitive load was added to the cognitive load framework based on theoretical considerations rather than on specific empirical results that could not be explained without this concept. The design of corresponding learning activities always required methods and techniques external to the theory. The article suggests that the dual intrinsic/extraneous framework is sufficient and non-redundant and makes boundaries of the theory transparent. The idea of germane load might have an independent role within this framework if (as recently suggested by John Sweller) it is redefined as referring to the actual working memory resources devoted to dealing with intrinsic rather than extraneous load.