Students´ experiences in guided computer-based learning: A progressive evaluation

This study investigated students´ experiences in two types of instructional strategies (i.e., fully-guided and partially guided) and their learning experience patterns from the beginning towards the end of the computer-based interactions. An empirical study was performed on 41 students from a public university in Malaysia using two types of computer-based systems for learning Basic Computer Networks. The students´ learning experiences were evaluated at three different stages of the computer-based learning sessions using self-report technique. The results showed that the students´ learning experiences were changing over the period of the computer-based lessons either in positive or negative ways. The directions of changes were mainly influenced by the students´ Information Technology (IT) prior knowledge. The results of this study suggest that computer-based guided learning systems should consider students´ background of knowledge in their design to achieve effective learning. Further, the combination of the fully-and partially-guided features may create an adaptive computer-based learning system.