Abstract

<para xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> Much of the empirical research on the effectiveness of different instructional designs has focused on declarative tasks, where a learner acquires knowledge about a certain topic. It is unclear to what extent findings for learning declarative tasks (which are not consistent on all aspects) carry over to learning procedural tasks, where a learner acquires a certain skill. In this paper, we describe an experiment studying a specific kind of procedural instructions, namely exercises for the prevention of repetitive strain injury (RSI), taking information modality (text versus picture versus film clip) and difficulty degree of the exercises (easy versus difficult) into account. In the experiment, participants had to learn RSI exercises and were asked to execute them. The results showed that an instruction in a picture lead to the shortest learning times followed by an instruction in a film clip. An instruction in text led to the longest learning times. For the amount of practicing the exercises during the learning phase, it was found that the participants in the film clip condition hardly engaged in practicing the exercises during the learning phase. The participants in the picture condition engaged in a moderate amount of practicing of the exercises during the learning phase. The participants in the text condition engaged in the most practicing during the learning phase. The results concerning the execution times showed that an instruction in a picture led to the lowest execution times followed by an instruction in a film clip. The instruction in text led to longest execution times. Finally, for the amount of correctly executed exercises, it was found that learning from a film clip led to the highest learning performance, both for easy and for difficult exercises. Learning from an instruction in text led to a fairly good learning performance, both for easy and difficult exercises. Learning from a picture led to a good learning performance for the easy exercises, but the performance dropped for the difficult exercises. </para>

Journal
IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication
Published
2008-03-01
DOI
10.1109/tpc.2007.2000054
CompPile
Open Access
Closed
Topics
Export

Citation Context

Cited by in this index (5)

  1. Technical Communication Quarterly
  2. Journal of Technical Writing and Communication
  3. Technical Communication Quarterly
  4. IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication
  5. IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication

References (54) · 5 in this index

  1. 10.1177/154193128903301121
  2. 10.1016/S0003-6870(00)00071-5
  3. IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication
  4. 10.1207/s1532690xci1203_1
  5. 10.1016/S0166-4115(08)62151-2
Show all 54 →
  1. Comprehension of Graphics in Texts
  2. 10.1080/0014013021000047557
  3. 10.1136/bmj.308.6923.269
  4. IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication
  5. IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication
  6. 10.1016/j.learninstruc.2004.06.005
  7. 10.1177/154193120404800712
  8. IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication
  9. 10.1016/j.learninstruc.2004.06.003
  10. 10.1016/S0959-4752(02)00019-1
  11. 10.1016/j.learninstruc.2004.06.007
  12. 10.1037/0022-0663.82.4.715
  13. 10.1037/0022-0663.81.2.240
  14. 10.1037/0022-0663.77.3.285
  15. 10.1007/BF00896876
  16. 10.1016/S0959-4752(01)00018-4
  17. 10.1016/S0364-0213(02)00086-1
  18. what memory is for
    Behavioral Brain Sci  
  19. 10.1080/01638539909545067
  20. 10.1515/9783110813098.207
    The Relationship of Verbal and Nonverbal Communication  
  21. questions, pictures, answers: introducing pictures in question-answering systems
    Proc ACTAS-1 of X Symposio Internacional de Comunicacion Social
  22. Working with Words and Images New Steps in and Old Dance
  23. 10.1007/BF03172968
  24. 10.1006/ijhc.2002.1017
  25. 10.1207/s1532690xci0804_5
  26. effects of computer animation on user's performance: a review
    Le Travail Humain
  27. 10.1007/BF02504797
  28. 10.1016/S0747-5632(01)00049-8
  29. 10.1007/3-540-44590-0_21
  30. student evaluation of motivational and learning attributes of microcomputer software
    J Comput -Based Instruction
  31. 10.1037/0022-0663.83.3.318
  32. Usability Engineering
  33. 10.1145/238386.238482
  34. 10.1016/S0959-4752(02)00016-6
  35. 10.1017/CBO9781139164603
  36. 10.1016/j.learninstruc.2004.06.001
  37. 10.1002/1099-0720(200011/12)14:6<555::AID-ACP677>3.0.CO;2-4
  38. 10.1111/j.1551-6708.1987.tb00863.x
  39. IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication
  40. 10.1207/S15326985EP3801_7
  41. 10.1007/BF00118557
  42. Advances in the Psychology of Human Intelligence
  43. working memory
    Science  
  44. 10.1207/S15326985EP3801_8
  45. 10.1016/S0959-4752(01)00020-2
  46. 10.1023/A:1022193728205
  47. 10.1037/0022-0663.88.1.49
  48. 10.1037/h0043158
  49. Instructional Design in Technical Areas