TY - JOUR
T1 - Supporting multimedia learning with visual signalling and animated pedagogical agent
T2 - Moderating effects of prior knowledge
AU - Johnson, Amy
AU - Ozogul, G.
AU - Reisslein, Martin
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2014 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
PY - 2015/4/1
Y1 - 2015/4/1
N2 - An experiment examined the effects of visual signalling to relevant information in multiple external representations and the visual presence of an animated pedagogical agent (APA). Students learned electric circuit analysis using a computer-based learning environment that included Cartesian graphs, equations and electric circuit diagrams. The experiment was a 2 (visual signalling, no visual signalling)×2 (visual APA presence, no visual APA presence) between-subjects design, resulting in four experimental conditions: visual signalling with APA presence (APA+S), visual signalling without APA presence (S), no visual signalling with APA presence (APA) and no visual signalling without APA presence (C). Signalling was provided via gestures of the APA in the APA+S condition and via dynamic arrows in the S condition. To investigate potential moderating effects of prior knowledge on APA presence and visual signalling factors, middle school students were grouped into low prior knowledge (LPK) and high prior knowledge (HPK) groups using scores on a domain pre-test. Results revealed that LPK students had higher post-test scores after learning with visual signalling, resulting in equivalent post-test performance to their HPK counterparts. LPK students also had higher post-test scores, higher ratings of graphics understanding and lower perceived difficulty ratings in conditions that included the visual image of the APA. Conversely, HPK students had better post-test scores after learning without the APA. These results indicate that the effectiveness of visual signalling techniques and the visual presence of an APA is dependent on learner characteristics, including prior domain knowledge.
AB - An experiment examined the effects of visual signalling to relevant information in multiple external representations and the visual presence of an animated pedagogical agent (APA). Students learned electric circuit analysis using a computer-based learning environment that included Cartesian graphs, equations and electric circuit diagrams. The experiment was a 2 (visual signalling, no visual signalling)×2 (visual APA presence, no visual APA presence) between-subjects design, resulting in four experimental conditions: visual signalling with APA presence (APA+S), visual signalling without APA presence (S), no visual signalling with APA presence (APA) and no visual signalling without APA presence (C). Signalling was provided via gestures of the APA in the APA+S condition and via dynamic arrows in the S condition. To investigate potential moderating effects of prior knowledge on APA presence and visual signalling factors, middle school students were grouped into low prior knowledge (LPK) and high prior knowledge (HPK) groups using scores on a domain pre-test. Results revealed that LPK students had higher post-test scores after learning with visual signalling, resulting in equivalent post-test performance to their HPK counterparts. LPK students also had higher post-test scores, higher ratings of graphics understanding and lower perceived difficulty ratings in conditions that included the visual image of the APA. Conversely, HPK students had better post-test scores after learning without the APA. These results indicate that the effectiveness of visual signalling techniques and the visual presence of an APA is dependent on learner characteristics, including prior domain knowledge.
KW - Animated pedagogical agents
KW - Learner characteristics
KW - Multiple external representations
KW - Visual signalling
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84923999152&partnerID=8YFLogxK
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U2 - 10.1111/jcal.12078
DO - 10.1111/jcal.12078
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84923999152
SN - 0266-4909
VL - 31
SP - 97
EP - 115
JO - Journal of Computer Assisted Learning
JF - Journal of Computer Assisted Learning
IS - 2
ER -