Date of Award

Summer 2013

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Department

Psychology

Program/Concentration

Psychology

Committee Director

Richard N. Landers

Committee Member

Konstantin Cigularov

Committee Member

Cathy Lau-Barraco

Call Number for Print

Special Collections LD4331.P65 C39 2013

Abstract

Past learner control research has shown discrepant findings for hypothesized learning outcomes. In order to shed light on these inconsistent findings, this study investigated adult learners' use of learner control features in an online training program, and examined the usage in relation to individual differences. A sample of participants recruited from a crowdsourcing website was given a high level of learner control, and their progress was tracked as they completed an online Microsott Excel training program. It was hypothesized that learner behavior during training partially mediated the relationship between individual differences and learning outcomes in a high learner control training environment. Results indicated that the relationship between cognitive ability and learning outcomes was partially mediated by the usage of learner control features. Hypotheses regarding other individual differences were generally unsupported, possibly due to the context of the study: a voluntary training program completed by adults who were compensated with a relatively small amount of money. Future research on learner control should be conducted on employee samples or in-person.

Rights

In Copyright. URI: http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ This Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s).

DOI

10.25777/es4w-ed43

Share

COinS