Prompting of Learning Tactics in Online Medical Health Learning

• In Event: Motivation, Cognition, and Effective Teaching

Abstract

Learning online is highly individualized and accessible because students can control the timing, pace, and sequence of learning plus modes of annotating material. However, students studying online may need support to transform typically passive learning into active comprehension and application. This study compared two learning tactics: self-explanation and self-questioning not previously compared in research. Health professionals and students across Canada studied an online chapter in Fetal Health Surveillance and used learning software to create self-explanations or choose among question stems with fill-in-the-blank space(s) to self question. Participants who self-explained scored higher on the posttest. A statistically detectable decrease in recall of content was observed for participants who chose fill-in-the-blank self-questions. Findings are explained based on past research and participant comments.

Authors

• Donya Samadi Rahimi, Simon Fraser University

• Philip H. Winne, Simon Fraser University

• John Cale Nesbit, Simon Fraser University