Adaptive Procedures for Efficient Learning

Author(s):  
Slava Kalyuga

The rapid diagnostic approach to evaluating levels of learner task-specific expertise was introduced in Chapter IV and used in several studies that were subsequently described throughout this book. The rapid diagnostic techniques (first-step method and rapid verification technique) were instrumental in investigating some instances of the expertise reversal effect and in optimizing levels of cognitive load in faded worked example procedures (Section II and Chapter XI). This chapter describes some specific adaptive procedures based on rapid diagnostic methods for evaluating ongoing levels of learner task specific expertise. Two specific approaches to the design of adaptive instruction are considered, adaptive procedures based on rapid measures of performance and adaptive procedures based on combined measures of performance and cognitive load (efficiency measures). The expertise reversal effect established interactions between learner levels of task-specific expertise and effectiveness of different instructional methods. The major instructional implication of this effect is the need to tailor instructional methods and procedures to dynamically changing levels of learner expertise in a specific class of tasks within a domain. The rapid diagnostic approach was successfully used for real-time evaluation of levels of learner task-specific expertise in adaptive online tutorials in the domains of linear algebra equations (Kalyuga & Sweller, 2004; 2005) and vector addition motion problems in kinematics (Kalyuga, 2006) for high school students. Both first step diagnostic method and rapid verification technique were applied in adaptive procedures. According to the rapid assessment-based tailoring approach, these tutorials provided dynamic selection of levels of instructional guidance that were optimal for learners with different levels of expertise based on real-time online measures of these levels. The general designs of those studies were similar. In learner-adapted groups, at the beginning of training sessions, each student was provided with an appropriate level of instructional guidance according to the outcome of the initial rapid pretest. Then during the session, depending on the outcomes of the ongoing rapid tests, the student was allowed to proceed to the next learning stage or was required to repeat the same stage and then take the rapid test again. At each subsequent stage, a lower level of guidance was provided to learners (e.g., worked-out components of solution procedures were gradually omitted and progressively replaced with problem solving steps), and a higher level of the rapid diagnostic tasks was used at the end of the stage. In control non-adapted groups, learners either studied all tasks that were included in the corresponding stages of the training session of their yoked participants, or were required to study the whole set of tasks available in the tutorial.

Author(s):  
Slava Kalyuga

Main implication of the expertise reversal effect is the need to tailor instructional techniques and procedures to changing levels of learner expertise in a specific task domain. In order to design adaptive procedures capable of tailoring instruction in real-time, it is necessary to have online measures of learner expertise. Such measures should be rapid enough to be used in real time. At the same time, they need to have sufficient diagnostic power to detect different levels of task-specific expertise. One of the previously mentioned reasons for low practical applicability of the results of studies in Aptitude-Treatment Interactions were inadequate aptitude measures. Most of the assessment methods used in those studies were psychometric instruments designed for selection purposes (e.g., large batteries of aptitude tests based on artificially simplified tasks administered mostly in laboratory conditions). Another suggested reason was unsuitability of those methods for dynamic, real-time applications while learners proceeded through a single learning session. This chapter describes a rapid diagnostic approach to the assessment of learner task-specific expertise that has been intentionally designed for rapid online application in adaptive learning environments. The method was developed using an analogy to experimental procedures applied in classical studies of chess expertise mentioned in Chapter I. In those studies, realistic board configurations were briefly presented for subsequent replications. With the described diagnostic approach, learners are briefly presented with a problem situation and required to indicate their first solution step in this problem situation or to rapidly verify suggested steps at various stages of a problem solution procedure.


Author(s):  
Slava Kalyuga

This chapter describes some specific adaptive procedures for tailoring levels of instructional guidance to individual levels of learner task-specific expertise to optimize cognitive resources available to learning. Recent studies in expertise reversal effect that were reviewed in previous chapters indicate that instructional design principles that benefit low-knowledge users may disadvantage more experienced ones. This reversal in the relative effectiveness of different instructional methods is due to the increase in cognitive load that is required for integration of presented supporting information with learners’ available knowledge structures. The major implication of these findings for multimedia design is the need to tailor levels of instructional support to individual levels of learner task-specific expertise. The procedures for adapting levels of instructional guidance suggested in this chapter have been developed in conjunction with empirically established interactions between levels of learner expertise and optimal instructional techniques and procedures. The chapter starts with the description of the processes and approaches to learning complex cognitive skills. The appropriate design models for learning complex skills are reviewed and different ways of varying levels of learner control in such models are described. The relations between levels of learner task-specific expertise and optimal levels of instructional guidance are then discussed. Also, empirical studies of the expertise reversal for instructional guidance and sequencing of learning tasks are reviewed. The completion tasks and faded worked examples are specific instructional methods used in the described studies for managing levels of instructional guidance in adaptive learning environments. Real-time monitoring of levels of learner task-specific expertise using rapid cognitive diagnostic methods was used in some of these studies.


2013 ◽  
Vol 35 (3) ◽  
pp. 260-269 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aïmen Khacharem ◽  
Bachir Zoudji ◽  
Slava Kalyuga ◽  
Hubert Ripoll

Cognitive load perspective was used as a theoretical framework to investigate effects of expertise and type of presentation of interacting elements of information in learning from dynamic visualizations. Soccer players (N = 48) were required to complete a recall reconstruction test and to rate their invested mental effort after studying a concurrent or sequential presentation of the elements of play. The results provided evidence for an expertise reversal effect. For novice players, the sequential presentation produced better learning outcomes. In contrast, expert players performed better after studying the concurrent presentation. The findings suggest that the effectiveness of different visual presentation formats depend on levels of learner expertise.


Author(s):  
Slava Kalyuga

Cognitive studies of expertise that were reviewed in Chapter I indicated that prior knowledge is the most important 1earner characteristic that influences learning processes. Recently, it has been established that learning procedures and techniques that are beneficial for learners with low levels of prior knowledge may become relatively inefficient for more knowledgeable learners due to cognitive activities that consume additional working memory resources. This expertise reversal effect could be related to aptitude-treatment interactions (interactions between learning outcomes of different instructional treatments and student aptitudes) that were actively investigated in 1960-70s. The learner level of prior knowledge or level of expertise is the aptitude of interest in this case. The effect is explained by the cognitive overload that more knowledgeable learners may experience due to processing redundant for these learners instructional components (as compared to information without redundancy). As a consequence, instructional outcomes of different multimedia learning formats and procedures are always relative to levels of learner task-specific expertise. This chapter describes cognitive processes that cause expertise reversal effect and major instructional implications of this effect. The chapter provides a review of empirical evidence obtained in the original longitudinal studies of the effect, the expertise reversal for methods of enhancing essential cognitive load, and expertise reversal phenomena when learning from textual and hypertextual materials. The chapter also describes relations between the expertise reversal effect and studies of Aptitude-Treatment Interactions. Additional empirical evidence for the effect in other areas will be described in the following chapters in Section 2 of the book.


2016 ◽  
Vol 24 (4) ◽  
pp. 501
Author(s):  
Dongmei ZHANG ◽  
Haidong LU ◽  
Yatong ZU

2007 ◽  
Vol 76 (11-12) ◽  
pp. 850-855 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christelle Despont-Gros ◽  
Olivier Rutschmann ◽  
Antoine Geissbuhler ◽  
Christian Lovis

2012 ◽  
pp. 710-725
Author(s):  
Julian Roelle ◽  
Kirsten Berthold ◽  
Stefan Fries

Feedback on learning strategies is a promising instructional support measure. However, research on the expertise reversal effect suggests that if instructional support measures are provided to expert learners, these learners would have to integrate and cross-reference redundant instructional guidance with available knowledge structures, resulting in less available resources for effective learning processes. Thus, feedback might be detrimental for learners who possess high-quality learning strategies. Against this background, the authors used an online learning management system to employ a feedback procedure that included highly elaborated feedback on learning strategies in a learning journal. The effects of this feedback procedure were tested in a field study using a within-subject design with the factor feedback (no vs. yes). Participants were 246 university students who wrote journal entries over an entire term. The results show that providing feedback to low expertise learners is effective, whereas the effectiveness of feedback is reversed regarding high expertise learners.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document