E-Learning and the Science of Instruction 2e by Clark, Mayer

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E-Learning and the Science of Instruction 2e by Clark, Mayer is the 2nd edition of the e-Learning and the Science of Instruction: Proven Guidelines for Consumers and Designers of Multimedia Learning textbook authored by Ruth C. Clark and Richard E. Mayer and published by Pfeiffer, An Imprint of Wiley, San Francisco, CA in 2008.

The copyright belongs to John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

  • Active Observation. Learning by watching a human tutor explain a problem to the student. Most effective when observing an explanation of an assigned problem with a partner. Encourages self‐explanations and deeper processing.
  • Active Processing. A psychological principle stating that learning occurs when people engage in appropriate cognitive processing during learning such as attending to relevant materials, responding to practice exercises, reflecting on examples.
  • Adaptive Control. A process in which learners are directed or branched to different instructional materials in a lesson or course based on the program's evaluation of their responses to lesson exercises. Also called personalized instruction or user modeling.
  • Advance Organizer. A device placed in the start of a learning event designed to provide an overview or big picture of the lesson content. May take the form of a graphic or table.
  • Advisement. After completing an online task, the system offers suggestions regarding what the learner should do next. Research has not yet defined when or how advisement is most beneficial.
  • Agents. On‐screen characters who help guide the learning process during an e‐learning episode. Also called pedagogical agents or on‐screen coaches. Agents are most effective when they serve a relevant instructional purpose, such as to give hints and feedback, communicate through audio narration in a conversational friendly voice, and exhibit human‐like movement such as gestures and eye gazes. See also Embodiment Principle.
  • Animation. A graphic that depicts movement such as a video of a procedure or a computer‐generated moving series of graphics.
  • Architecture. A course design that reflects a theory of learning. Architectures vary regarding the amount and type of structure and interactivity included in the lesson.
  • Argumentation. A process of defining various propositions or hypotheses for a position, identifying supporting data for those propositions, and presenting a rational case for the position.
  • Arousal Theory. The idea that adding entertaining and interesting material to lessons stimulates emotional engagement that promotes learning.
  • Asynchronous Collaboration. Opportunities for learners and/or instructors to interact with each other via computer at different times such as in a discussion board or email.
  • Asynchronous e‐Learning. Digitized instructional resources intended for self‐study. Learners can access training resources any time and any place.
  • Auditory Channel. Part of the human memory system that processes information that enters through the ears and is mentally represented in the form of sounds.
  • Automaticity. A stage of learning in which new knowledge or skills can be applied directly from long‐term memory without using working memory capacity. Some common examples of automatic tasks are driving a car, typing, and reading. Knowledge becomes automatic only after many practice repetitions.
  • Behavioral Engagement. A visible response by a learner during an instructional episode such as clicking an on‐screen object, pressing the forward button, typing a response, responding verbally. Contrast with Psychological Engagement.
  • Blocked Practice. The grouping of practice exercises in or among lessons according to the concept or skill being learned. Blocked practice leads to easier learning during the lesson but poorer long‐term learning compared with mixed practice.
  • Blogs. A website where individuals write commentaries on an ongoing basis. Visitors can comment or link to a blog.
  • Borrowing and Reorganizing Principle. An instructional principle proposed by John Sweller that emphasizes the role of imitation of others in learning. Worked examples are an instructional example of a method that is effective because of the borrowing principle.
  • Boundary Conditions. The situations in which an instructional method or principle is or is not effective. For example, one boundary condition for the effectiveness of graphics is the background experience of the learner. Graphics are most beneficial for learners with low prior knowledge of the content.
  • Breakout Rooms. An online conferencing facility that usually supports audio, whiteboard, polling, and chat used for small groups in conjunction with a virtual classroom event.
  • Calibration. The accuracy of self‐estimates of knowing. If learners estimate low knowledge and score low on a test they have good calibration; likewise, if they estimate high knowledge and score high on a test they have good calibration.
  • Chats. Two or more participants communicating online at the same time via text.
  • Clinical Trials. Research comparing the learning outcomes and/or processes of people who learn in a test e‐learning course versus people who learn in another venue such as a competing e‐learning course. Also called controlled field testing.
  • Cognitive Consequences Research. Experiments that evaluate the improvement in cognitive skills such as spatial ability after engaging in an activity for a period of time. For example, how does playing action video games affect perceptual attention skills?
  • Cognitive Interest. A source of motivation stemming from learners' ability to make sense of the instructional materials. As a result of understanding the lesson, the learner experiences enjoyment. Contrast with Emotional Interest.
  • Cognitive Learning Theory. An explanation of how people learn based on the idea of dual channels (information is processed in visual and auditory channels), limited capacity (only a small amount of information can be processed in each channel at one time), and active learning (meaningful learning occurs when learners pay attention to relevant information, organize it into a coherent structure, and integrate it with what they already know). Also called cognitive theory and cognitive theory of multimedia learning.
  • Cognitive Load. The amount of mental resource in working memory required by a task.
  • Cognitive Models. A type of modeled example that involves a demonstration of problem‐solving actions and thoughts, such as how to troubleshoot an unusual fault.
  • Cognitive Task Analysis. Techniques used to define the thinking processes used by experts when solving real‐world problems.
  • Coherence Principle. Avoid extraneous audio, graphics or graphic treatments, and words to minimize extraneous processing during learning.
  • Collaborative Controversy. A structured type of argumentation in which pairs take different aspects of a controversial topic, research their aspect, present it to other teams, and listen to other teams' arguments.
  • Collaborative Learning. A structured instructional interaction among two or more learners to achieve a learning goal or complete an assignment. One popular form is called Cooperative Learning.
  • Collaborative Observations. An engagement activity in which pairs of learners work together on a problem while watching a videotaped tutor work with a different learner on the same problem. See also Active Observation.
  • Computer‐Supported Collaborative Learning (CSCL). Any instructional program in which two to five individuals work together (synchronously or asynchronously) on an instructional activity or assignment using digital technology to communicate.
  • Concurrent Reporting. A form of cognitive task analysis in which experts verbalize their thoughts at the same time that they are solving a problem or completing a task. Contrast with Retrospective Reporting.
  • Content Analysis. Research to define content and content relationships to be included in a training course. See also Task Analysis.
  • Contiguity Principle. People learn more deeply when corresponding printed words and graphics are placed close to one another on the screen or when spoken words and graphics are presented at the same time.
  • Control. A comparison lesson that does not include the variable being studied in the treatment lesson. For example, a text‐only lesson is a control being compared with a lesson with both text and graphics.
  • Controlled Studies. Research comparing the learning outcomes and/or processes of two or more lesson variations that are the same except for the variable(s) being studied. Subjects are randomly assigned to the different treatments. Also called Experimental Comparison.
  • Conversational Style. A writing style that uses first and second person constructions, active voice, and speech‐like phrases. One technique recommended by the Personalization Principle.
  • Cooperative Learning. See Collaborative Learning.
  • Corrective Feedback. Instructional responses to answers to a practice exercise that tell the learners whether they answered corrected or incorrectly. Contrast with Explanatory Feedback.
  • Course Map. A type of menu or concept map that graphically represents the content structure of an online course or lesson. Course maps have been shown to influence how learners organize learning content.
  • Creative Thinking. The production of novel and useful ideas such as designing an e‐learning course or solving novel, ill‐defined problems.
  • Critical Decision Method. A form of cognitive task analysis in which an expert describes in detail an incident they resolved in the past.
  • Critical Thinking. Evaluation of products and ideas such as critiquing an e‐learning course or preparing an argument for a position.
  • Cueing. An instructional device used to draw attention to relevant parts of a visual or text. Some examples include arrows, circles, and shading.
  • Decorative Graphics. Visuals used for aesthetic purposes or to add humor, such as a picture of a person riding a bicycle in a lesson on how bicycle pumps work.
  • Dependent Measure. The outcome measure in an experimental study. In many learning experiments, a test score is the dependent variable.
  • Deliberate Practice. Exercises that fall just outside the learner's level of competence that focus on specific skill gaps and demand focus and reflection. The type of practice that leads to continued performance improvement.
  • Design. One of the stages in e‐learning development in which the content is defined and summarized in the form of outlines, learning objectives, and storyboards.
  • Desirable Difficulty. The idea that instructional methods that are more challenging at the time of initial learning lead to better long‐ term learning. For example, practice with mixed problem types generally results in lower practice scores but better testing results.
  • Development. One of the stages in e‐learning development in which the course is created including graphics, text, programming, etc.
  • Directive Architecture. Training that primarily asks the learner to make a response or perform a task and then provides feedback. Also called show‐and‐do method. Based on a response‐strengthening view of learning.
  • Discovery. Learning Experiential exploratory instructional interfaces that offer little structure or guidance. Generally shown to be ineffective due to lack of guidance.
  • Disruption. A process that interferes with the organization of new content in memory as a result of irrelevant content getting in the way.
  • Distraction. A process that interferes with the selection process by taking learner focus away from important instructional content or methods.
  • Distributed Practice. Exercises that are placed throughout a lesson rather than all in one location. Long‐term learning is better under conditions of distributed practice. Also called spaced practice. Compare to Massed Practice.
  • Domain‐Specific Thinking Skills. Competencies that apply to specific work roles or tasks such as electrical troubleshooting or patient diagnostic process.
  • Drag and Drop. A facility that allows the user to move objects from one part of the screen to another. Often used in e‐learning practice exercises.
  • Dual Channels. A psychological principle stating that humans have two separate channels for processing visual/pictorial material and auditory/verbal material.
  • Effect Size. A statistic indicating how many standard deviations difference there is between the mean score of the experimental group and the mean score of the control group. A useful metric to determine the practical significance of research results. Effect sizes greater than .5 indicate an outcome of practical significance worthy of implementation.
  • Ego‐Directed Feedback. A comment on the learner's response to an engagement activity that gives praise or otherwise directs the learner's attention to himself rather than to the task. Ego‐directed feedback is not shown to improve learning.
  • E‐Learning. A combination of content and instructional methods delivered by media elements such as words and graphics on a digital device intended to build job‐transferable knowledge and skills linked to individual learning goals or organizational performance. May be designed for self‐ study or instructor‐led training. See Asynchronous and Synchronous e‐Learning.
  • Embodiment Principle. People learn more deeply from on‐screen coaches (agents) when they use human‐like movements including gestures and eye gazes.
  • Emotional Design. Approaches to make instructional topics more appealing through use of color or humanoid features in graphics that increase motivation but do not impose extraneous processing.
  • Emotional Interest. A source of motivation stemming from treatments that induce arousal in learners such as dramatic visuals or stories. See also Seductive Details. Contrast with Cognitive Interest.
  • Encoding. Integration of new information entering working memory into long‐term memory for permanent storage.
  • Engagement. Learner interaction with any aspect of the instructional environment. Successful engagement leads to generative processing and learning. Engagement may be physical, such as clicking on the continue button, or psychological, such as reading for meaning. Not all engagement leads to learning.
  • Engagement Grid. A two‐by‐two model that crosses psychological engagement (high and low) with behavioral engagement (high and low). Deeper learning stems from high psychological engagement with or without high behavioral engagement.
  • Essential Processing. Mental work during learning directed at representing the content that is created by the inherent complexity of the content. More complex content requires greater amounts of essential processing.
  • Evidence‐Based Practice. Basing instructional techniques on research findings and research‐based theory.
  • Experimental Control. The test group and the comparison (control) group receive identical treatments except for the one feature being tested. For example, the control group studies from a lesson using text and the test group studies from the same lesson that adds graphics to the text.
  • Experimental Studies. See Controlled Studies.
  • Expertise Reversal Effect. Instructional methods that are helpful to novice learners may have no effect or even depress learning of high‐knowledge learners.
  • Explanatory Feedback. Instructional responses to student answers to practice exercises that tell the learners whether they are correct or incorrect and also provide the rationale or a hint guiding the learners to a correct answer.
  • Explanatory Visual. A graphic that helps learners build relationships among content elements. Includes organizational, relational, transformational, and interpretive types of visuals.
  • Extraneous Processing. Irrelevant mental work during learning that results from ineffective instructional design of the lesson. For example, a graphic appears at the top of a scrolling screen and text explaining the graphic appears at the bottom so that contiguity is violated.
  • Eye Tracking. A physiological indicator of attention involving tracing eye movements as an individual reviews pages or screens of content.
  • Factorial Experimental Comparison. A controlled experiment that compares learning among subjects who did or did not experience the instructional feature and that also varies another factor such as the type of learner, type of learning objective, or type of learning environment. For example, learning from a lesson with and without graphics is compared among experienced and novice learners.
  • Fading. An instructional technique in which learners move from fully worked examples to full practice exercises through a series of worked examples in which the learner gradually completes more of the steps.
  • Far Transfer. Tasks Tasks that require learners to use what they have learned in a novel situation, such as adjusting a general principle for a new problem. For example, how to troubleshoot an unusual system failure or how to write a sales proposal. See also Strategic Knowledge.
  • Feedback. Information concerning the correctness of one's performance on a learning task or question. Effective feedback includes an explanation for correct and incorrect responses and should direct attention to the task or task process rather than the ego.
  • Formative Evaluation. The evaluation of courseware based on learner responses (test results or feedback) during the development and initial trials of the courseware.
  • Game. An online environment that involves learner engagement with a challenge to achieve a goal, and a set of rules and constraints within a specific context. Game types vary, including games of chance, games based on motor skills, and games of strategy. Games for learning are called instructional games or serious games.
  • Generative Processing. Relevant mental work during learning directed at deeper understanding of the content that stems from the motivation of the learner to make sense of the material.
  • Generative Underutilization. Learners fail to engage in generative processing, perhaps due to lack of motivation.
  • Generic Thinking Skills. Competencies that can be applied to diverse domains such as analysis, argumentation, or decision making. Contrast with Domain‐Specific Thinking Skills.
  • Graphic. Any iconic representation, including illustrations, drawings, charts, maps, photos, organizational visuals, animation, and video. Also called picture.
  • Guided Discovery. An instructional architecture in which the learner is assigned an authentic job task or case study, along with guidance from the instruction about how to process the incoming information. Based on a knowledge construction view of learning.
  • Heterogeneous Groups. Learners who differ regarding prior knowledge, job background, culture, or other significant features. Contrast with Homogeneous Groups.
  • Homogeneous Groups. Learners who are similar regarding prior knowledge, job background, culture, or other significant features. Contrast with Heterogeneous Groups.
  • Ill‐Defined. Tasks Problems for which there is no one correct answer or approach, for example, designing a website or developing a patient treatment plan.
  • Independent Variable. The feature that is studied in an experiment. For example, in a lesson that uses visuals that is compared to a lesson that uses text alone, visuals are the independent variable.
  • Inductive. Learning Learning that comes from experience rather than direct explanations.
  • Inform Programs. Lessons designed primarily to communicate information rather than build skills.
  • Informal Studies. Research in which conclusions are based on observing people as they learn or asking them about their learning. Also called observational studies.
  • Information Acquisition. A metaphor of learning that assumes that learners absorb information that is provided to them by the instruction. This metaphor is the basis for receptive architectures of learning.
  • Information Delivery. An explanation of how people learn based on the idea that learners directly absorb new information presented in the instructional environment. Also called the transmission view or the information acquisition view. See also Information Acquisition.
  • Instruction. The training professional's manipulation of the learner's experiences to foster learning.
  • Instructional Method. A technique in a lesson intended to facilitate cognitive processing that underlies learning. For example, a demonstration, a practice exercise, or feedback to practice responses.
  • Interaction. An engagement with some aspect of the instructional environment. May include clicking the forward button, typing an answer, making a comment in chat. Not all interactions lead to learning. See also Generative Process.
  • Interdependence. A condition in collaborative group work in which the rewards of each individual member depend to some degree on the outcomes of all group members. Has been shown to be an important condition for successful collaborative learning.
  • Interpersonal Model. A type of worked example in which a person demonstrates a social skill. For example, a video of an experienced teacher showing how to teach or a computer animation of an experienced salesperson demonstrating how to present a new product.
  • Integration Process. A cognitive process in which visual information and auditory information are connected with each other and with relevant memories from long‐term memory.
  • Interpretive Graphics. Visuals used to depict invisible or intangible relationships such as an animation of a bicycle pump that uses small dots to represent the flow of air.
  • Knowledge Construction. A metaphor of learning that holds that learners are active participants in the building of new knowledge by integrating new content into existing knowledge structures. Cognitive approaches to learning are based on this metaphor.
  • Knowledge Map. A two‐dimensional graphic representation of content. A concept map is one example.
  • Learning. A change in the learner's knowledge due to experience.
  • Learner‐Centered. Instructional approach that adapts technological features to psychological events of learning.
  • Learner Control. A condition in which the learner can select or manage elements of the lesson, such as the pacing, topics, sequencing, and instructional methods. Asynchronous e‐learning can provide various types of learner control. Contrast with Program Control.
  • Learning Styles. The idea that individuals process information in different ways based on some specific mental differences. For example, some learners may have an auditory style and learn better from narration, while others have a visual style and learn better from graphics. Learning styles are an unproven form of individual difference.
  • Limited Capacity. A psychological principle stating that humans have a small capacity in working memory allowing them to actively process only a few pieces of information in each channel at one time. See also Cognitive Load.
  • Link. An object on a screen (text or graphic) that when clicked leads to additional information on the same or on different web pages.
  • Long‐Term Memory. Part of the cognitive system that stores memories in a permanent form.
  • Massed Practice. Practice exercises that are placed all in one location in a lesson or course. Compare to Distributed Practice.
  • Media Devices. Used to deliver instruction, including computers, smart phones, books, and instructors.
  • Media Comparison Research. Experiments that compare the learning of academic content with games versus traditional training methods.
  • Media Element. Text, graphics, or sounds used to convey lesson content.
  • Message Boards. A communication facility in which a number of participants type comments at different times that remain on the board for others to read and respond to.
  • Meta‐Analysis. A computation of average effect sizes among many experiments. Data based on a meta‐analysis give us greater confidence in the results since they incorporate the results of many research studies.
  • Metacognition. Awareness and control of one's learning or thinking processing, including setting goals, monitoring progress, and adjusting strategies as needed. Also called metacognitive skill and self‐regulatory skill.
  • Mixed Practice. Incorporating practice exercises on multiple concepts or skills together rather than organizing them by type. Mixed practice makes learning more difficult during the lesson but leads to better learning. Use mixed practice when learners must discriminate among different categories of concepts or problems. Contrast with Blocked Practice.
  • Modality Principle. People learn more deeply from multimedia lessons when graphics are explained by audio narration rather than on‐screen text. Some exceptions include lengthy narrations, unfamiliar words or symbols, self‐paced lessons, directions to practice exercises, or screens with no graphics.
  • Modeling Example. A demonstration of how to solve a problem or perform a task that incorporates a human. For example, an expert may demonstrate how to solve a technical problem while explaining her rationale or a video may show a sales expert working with a customer.
  • Mouse‐Over. A technique in which new information appears on the screen when the user places his or her mouse over a designated screen area. Also called roll‐over.
  • Multimedia Presentation. Any presentation containing words (such as narration or on‐screen text) and graphics (such as illustrations, photos, animation, or video).
  • Multimedia Principle. People learn more deeply from words and relevant graphics than from words alone. Also called the multimedia effect.
  • Narrative Game. A game that is set in the context of a storyline. Player actions will advance the plot. Evidence to date has not supported the learning value of narrative games.
  • Near Transfer. Tasks Tasks that require the learner to apply a well‐known procedure in the same way as it was learned. For example, how to access your email, how to complete a routine customer order. Contrast with Far Transfer.
  • Normative Feedback. An evaluation (often a grade) that compares the learner's outcome with the outcomes of others. A common example is "grading on the curve." Because it directs attention to learners' egos, normative feedback should be avoided.
  • Observational Studies. Methods that may involve qualitative or quantitative data to describe what learners are doing during learning. A learner survey is one example.
  • Operational Goals. Bottom‐line indicators of organizational success such as increased sales, decreased product errors, or increased customer satisfaction.
  • Organizational Graphics. Visuals used to show qualitative relationships among lesson topics or concepts. For example, a tree diagram.
  • Over Learning. Practice that continues after learners can accurately complete the task or solve a problem.
  • Pacing Control. Allowing learners to proceed in a lesson at their own rate, usually by pressing a next or continue button.
  • Part‐Task Instruction. A form of directive instructional architecture in which content is broken into small logical chunks and taught in a sequential manner. Also known as rule, example, practice, directive or stair‐step training. Contrast with Whole‐Task Instruction.
  • Pedagogical Agent. See Agents.
  • Peer Feedback. A comment given by other learners on the learner's response to an engagement activity. Peer feedback should be guided either by training or by a template. Peer feedback has been shown to promote learning of the individual giving the feedback.
  • Performance Analysis. Research to determine that training will support organizational goals and that e‐learning is the best delivery solution.
  • Perform Programs. Lessons designed primarily to build job‐specific skills.
  • Personalization Principle. People learn more deeply from multimedia lessons when learners experience heightened social presence, as when a conversational script with polite wording or learning agents are used.
  • Polite Speech. Narration that includes courteous phrases.
  • Pop‐Up. A window or message that appears on the screen when the mouse touches an active object on the screen. Also called Roll‐Over.
  • Power Law of Practice. Learners become more proficient at a task the more they practice, although the improvement occurs at a logarithmic rate. Greatest improvements occur during initial practice, with diminishing improvements over time.
  • Practical Research. Also called applied research, the goal of the research is to contribute to practice such as determining what methods work in e‐learning.
  • Practice. Structured opportunities for the learner to engage with the content by responding to a question or taking an action to solve a problem. Effective practice exercises prompt psychological engagement that leads to achievement of learning goals.
  • Pre‐Training Principle. People learn more deeply when lessons present key concepts prior to presenting the processes or procedures related to those concepts. The goal is to minimize essential processing overload.
  • Problem‐Based Learning. An instructional design approach to build thinking skills that involves learners often working in teams analyzing, researching, and resolving a case study. Originated in medical education. See also Scenario‐Based Learning.
  • Probability. A statistic indicating the chances that we would be incorrect in concluding that there is a difference between the mean scores of the experimental and control groups. Most instructional experiments use a probability of less than .05 as an indicator of statistical significance.
  • Procedural Lessons. Lessons designed to teach step‐by‐step skills that are performed the same way each time. See also Near Transfer.
  • Program Control. A condition when the topics, sequencing, instructional methods, and pacing are managed by the instructional environment and not the learner. Instructor‐led sessions generally are presented under program control. Also called instructional control. Contrast with Learner Control.
  • Psychological Engagement. A mental response by a learner during an instructional event that promotes learning. Contrast with Behavioral Engagement.
  • Random Assignment. A condition of experimental research in which the subjects are allocated to test and control conditions on a random basis. Random assignment assures that there are no systematic differences among the students in the test and control groups.
  • Receptive Instruction. An instructional architecture that primarily presents information without explicit guidance to the learner for how to process it. Also called the show‐and‐tell method. See also Inform Programs.
  • Recommender System. A program that aggregates ratings of prior learners on lessons or courses and provides those as a resource guide to help learners select quality lessons. Similar to rating systems on shopping sites.
  • Redundant On‐Screen Text. On‐screen text that contains the same words as corresponding audio narration.
  • Redundancy Principle. People learn more deeply from a multimedia lesson when graphics are explained by audio narration alone rather than audio narration and on‐screen text. This principle applies most when the lesson is fast‐paced, the words are familiar to the learners, and many words are presented on the screen. Some exceptions to the redundancy principle include screens with no visuals, learners who are not native speakers of the course language, and placement of only a few key words on the screen.
  • Rehearsal. Active processing of information in working memory, including mentally organizing the material. Effective rehearsal results in integration of new content with existing knowledge structures.
  • Relational Graphics. Visuals used to summarize quantitative relationships such as bar charts and pie graphs.
  • Representational Graphics. Visuals used to show what an object looks like, such as a computer screen or a piece of equipment.
  • Retrieval. Transferring information stored in long‐term memory to working memory. Also called retrieving process.
  • Retrospective Reporting. A form of cognitive task analysis in which experts verbalize their thoughts immediately or soon after solving a problem or completing a task.
  • Response Strengthening. A learning metaphor that focuses on strengthening or weakening of associations based on rewards or punishments provided during the learning event. Is the basis of directive instructional architectures.
  • Roll‐Over. A technique in which new content appears on the screen when the learner's mouse contacts on‐screen objects. For example, when you place the mouse cursor over an on‐screen icon, the name or function of the icon appears in a small text box. Also called a mouse‐over.
  • Scenario‐Based Learning. Instructional method that uses authentic work tasks or problems as the primary basis for learning. Also called whole‐task or problem‐based learning.
  • Seductive Details. Text or graphics added to a lesson in order to increase the learner's interest but which is not essential to the learning objective. Shown to distract learners and depress learning. Violates coherence principle.
  • Segmenting Principle. People learn more deeply when content is broken into small chunks and learners can control the rate at which they access the chunks. A good strategy for managing complex content that imposes considerable essential processing.
  • Selecting Process. A cognitive process in which the learner pays attention to relevant material in the lesson.
  • Self‐Explanations. The mental process involved in reviewing and making sense of instructional content such as a worked example or a graphic. Self‐explanations can be promoted by assigning questions to worked examples or graphics in the lesson.
  • Self‐Explanation Questions. An instructional technique designed to promote processing of worked examples in which the learner responds to questions asking about steps in a worked example.
  • Sensory Memory. Part of the cognitive system that briefly stores visual information received by the eyes and auditory information received by the ears.
  • Shared Control. A compromise between learner and program control in which the program selects several options based on learner performance and the learners select the option they prefer.
  • Signaling. An instructional technique used to draw attention to critical elements of the instruction. Common techniques include use of arrows, circles, bolding of text, or emphasis in narration.
  • Simulation. An interactive environment in which features in the virtual environment behave similarly to real‐world events. Simulations may be conceptual, such as a simulation of genetic inheritance, or operational, such as a flight simulator.
  • Site Map. A menu or concept map that graphically represents topics included in a course or online reference resource.
  • Social Media. Software allowing learners to upload content and connect with others through the Internet. Some well‐known applications include Facebook and Twitter. See also Social Software.
  • Social Presence. The extent to which a multimedia lesson uses elements that make learners feel connected to the instructor and to one another. For example, calling learners by their names in a synchronous session is one technique to increase social presence. Higher feelings of social presence lead learners to engage in deeper cognitive processing.
  • Social Interdependence. A collaborative learning arrangement in which the achievement of each individual team member depends on the achievement of other team members.
  • Social. Software Computer applications that allow individuals to correspond or collaborate with others. Some examples include wikis, blogs, discussion boards, Twitter, Facebook, and online conferencing.
  • Spacing Effect. Practice exercises distributed within and among lessons result in better long‐term retention. This principle is the basis for the benefits of distributed practice.
  • Split Attention. When learners must divide mental resources unnecessarily between two or more media elements. For example, when a graphic is explained by text that is located far from the graphic, the learners must divide their attention between the two.
  • Standard Deviation. The amount of dispersal among test scores or other outcome results. A larger standard deviation indicates greater spread among test scores, while a smaller standard deviation indicates greater consistency among scores.
  • Statistical Significance. A measure of the probability that the differences in the outcome results in the test and control groups are real and are not a chance difference. Many research studies use a probability of less than 0.05.
  • Storyboard. A layout that displays the content and instructional methods of a lesson, typically used for preview purposes before programming.
  • Strategic Knowledge or Skills. Guidelines that help in problem solving or completion of tasks that require judgment and reflection. For example, developing a sales proposal, writing an analytic report. See also Far Transfer.
  • Structured Controversy. A structured collaborative learning design involving team argumentation and synthesis of perspectives.
  • Structured Expert Interview. A type of cognitive task analysis in which experts work independently and then together to identify situations of diverse complexity in a domain.
  • Summative. Evaluation Evaluation of the impact of the courseware conducted at the end of the project; may include cost‐benefit analysis.
  • Supported Drawing. An engagement in which the learner creates a representation of lesson content by using pre‐constructed elements rather than drawing from scratch. Supported drawing has been shown to improve learning.
  • Synchronous e‐Learning. Electronic delivery of instructor‐led training available to geographically dispersed learners at the same time. Delivered through specialized software such as WebEx or Adobe Connect. Synchronous sessions can be recorded and accessed for asynchronous review after the event. Also called Virtual Classrooms.
  • Synthetic Research. Techniques including reviews or meta‐analysis that provide an analysis of multiple research studies on a specific research question.
  • Task Analysis. Research to define the knowledge and skills to be included in training, based on observations of performance and interviews of performers.
  • Task‐Focused Feedback. A comment on the learner's response to an engagement activity that tells the learner whether the answer is correct and gives an explanation related to the task.
  • Task‐Process Focused Feedback. A comment on the learner's response to an engagement activity that directs the learner's attention to the approach that should be taken to respond correctly.
  • Technophile. An individual or group that is enamored with technological features and may overload training with more sensory stimuli than learners can process.
  • Technostic. An individual or group that fails to exploit the potential of a new learning technology by transferring previous instructional techniques from older media to new technology with little or no adaptation. For example, books transferred to screens.
  • Theoretical Research. Basic research aimed at contributing to theory such as determining how learning works.
  • Thinking Skills. A complex set of skills such as problem solving, creativity, innovation, critical thinking, and analysis.
  • Topic Organizers. Graphic or textual representations that illustrate relationships among topics in a lesson. Concept maps and tables are two examples.
  • Transfer. Application of previously learned knowledge and skills to new situations encountered after the learning event. Relies on retrieval of new knowledge and skills from long‐term memory during performance.
  • Transfer Appropriate Interactions. Activities that require the learners to perform during training as they would on the job. For example, when learning a new computer system, learners practice with case examples and software interfaces that are identical or very similar to the job.
  • Transformational Graphics. Visuals used to show changes in time or space such as a weather cycle diagram or an animated illustration of a computer procedure.
  • Treatment. A variable or factor incorporated in an experimental lesson to determine its impact on learners. For example, a lesson with graphics (the treatment) is compared to a lesson without graphics (the control).
  • Value‐Added Research. Experiments in which different versions of games or simulations are tested to derive the conditions under which a game or simulation is most effective for learning.
  • Varied Context Examples. A series of examples with different surface features that illustrate the same principles. An example is a series of examples illustrating correlations that use rainfall and crop growth, age and weight, and practice time and speed.
  • Virtual Classroom. See Synchronous e‐Learning.
  • Virtual World. A digital three‐dimensional environment in which participants assume an avatar persona and explore and/or engage with the on‐screen objects. Second Life is one early example of a virtual world application.
  • Visual Channel. Part of the human memory system that processes information received through the eyes and is mentally represented in pictorial form.
  • Web 2.0. The name attributed to two‐way Internet capability for users to both upload and download content.
  • Webinar. See Synchronous e‐Learning.
  • Whole‐Task Instruction. A form of guided discovery instruction in which the lesson begins with and learning is driven by a realistic work assignment or problem. Also called scenario‐based learning, problem‐based learning, case‐based learning, guided discovery, or immersive learning. Contrast with Part‐Task Instruction.
  • Wikis. A website that allows visitors to edit its contents. Can be controlled for editing/viewing by a small group or by all.
  • Worked Example. Step‐by‐step demonstration of how to solve a problem or accomplish a task.
  • Working Memory. Part of the cognitive system in which the learner actively (consciously) processes incoming information from the environment and retrieves information from long‐term memory. Working memory has two channels (visual and auditory) and is limited in capacity.
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