Paper Info
Title
Benefits of adding anxiety-reducing features to a computer-based multimedia lesson on statistics.
Abstract
The present study examined the effectiveness of techniques intended to reduce anxiety as students learn mathematical content from a computer-based lesson. In a between-subjects experiment, students learned statistical rules through worked examples in a computer-based learning environment that either did (treatment group) or did not (control group) include anxiety reducing features—a coping message delivered through the lesson by an online pedagogical agent concerning how to manage feelings of anxiety, and prompts for expressive writing, in which students summarize their thoughts and feelings. An independent samples t-test showed that the treatment group, which received added anxiety-reducing features, showed higher accuracy than the control group on solving practice problems (d = 0.71) and retention problems (d = 0.63) and reported higher perceived effort on learning the multimedia lesson (d = 0.66). In addition, a standard multiple linear regression found that anxiety, self-efficacy, and cognitive load as a set predicted performance (R2 = 0.56), with self-efficacy as the strongest predictor (β = 0.63). Adding anxiety-reducing features to an online lesson may encourage greater effort, which leads to better learning outcomes.
Year
DOI
Venue
2016
10.1016/j.chb.2016.05.034
Computers in Human Behavior
Keywords
Field
DocType
Anxiety,Statistics learning,Computer-based learning,Multimedia instruction
Social psychology,Treatment and control groups,Computer based learning,Anxiety,Coping (psychology),Psychology,Learning environment,Cognitive load,Multimedia,Feeling
Journal
Volume
ISSN
Citations 
63
0747-5632
3
PageRank 
References 
Authors
0.39
1
2
Name
Order
Citations
PageRank
xiaoxia huang131.06
Richard E. Mayer2873410.00