The present study investigated (1) the impact of cognitive styles on learner performance in well-structured and ill-structured learning, and (2) scaffolding as a cognitive tool to improve learners' cognitive abilities, especially field dependent (FD) learners' ability to thrive in an ill-structured learning environment. Two experiments were conducted with 116 college students recruited from a large research I university in the west of the United States. Experiment 1 (n = 42) employed the group learning strategy to match learners' cognitive styles in asynchronous online learning. The results showed that the style matching strategy failed to yield expected gains in ill-structured asynchronous learning for FD learners. Different from the style-matching strategy, experiment 2 (n = 74) used a scaffolding model proposed by Cazden (1988) to improve FD learners' cognitive abilities in asynchronous online learning. Results indicated that focusing on learners' cognitive abilities proved to be more effective than style-matching strategy for FD learners in both ill-structured and well-structured asynchronous online learning. Implications of the findings were discussed with suggestions for future research.

As an instructional tool, concept map has been widely used to teach complex subjects in schools. Research suggests that concept mapping can help bridge learners’ prior knowledge with new learning, reduce the cognitive load involved in learning and improve comprehension, content retention, and knowledge transfer. Existing literature focuses on cognitive features, cognitive styles and differences between instructor provided and student generated concepts. However, little is known about the effects of concept maps as a cognitive tool to influence learners’ learning, specifically before and after the learning takes place. This chapter offers a discussion of general research in concept mapping and theories that support such instruction. Finally, an empirical study is presented with suggestions for future research in concept mapping.

This chapter describes the college students’ online social communication patterns and behavior with a focus on the impact of individual differences on learners’ online communication. The study consisted of 27 college students who engaged in an online discussion over a period of fourteen weeks as part of requirements in an undergraduate educational technology course. The findings indicated that cognitive styles such as field dependence and field independence played a critical role in forming learners’ online social communication. Based on social compensation theory and Witkin et al.’s theory of individual differences, the authors claimed that effective individual communication in an online community can be fostered through creating learning support, taking into considerations factors like cognitive styles, complementary personality, interest and motivation in the process of design. Suggestions for future online learning are made with an emphasis on creating an effective online community for learning.

This chapter introduces the ontological instructional design as an alternative to the traditional instructional design in teaching and learning. By comparing the differences between traditional instructional design and e-Learning, the authors suggest that instructional design in e-Learning require a different model than the existing traditional models due to the idiosyncratic nature of e-Learning in terms of population, environment, and resources. An ontological instructional design model is proposed with a focus on the sharability, reusability and interoperability of ontological entities and design components within the ontological entities, which provides a holistic approach to online instructional design compared to the segmented, linear design approach in traditional instructional design models. A case study is included to illustrate the use and application of the ontological instructional design model in an online business course. Finally, guidelines for implementing the model are made with suggestions for future research.

This chapter focuses on the design of human-computer interface, particularly the software interface design, by examining the relationship between the functionality and features of the interface and the cognitive factors associated with the design of such interface. A design framework is proposed followed by an empirical study to validate some of the theoretical assumptions of the framework. The findings indicate that learners become more perceptually engaged when a multiple sensory-input interface is used. Our study also shows that building affective interaction at the perceptual level could significantly enhance learners’ perceptual engagement which further leads them to cognitive engagement. Guidelines for designing an effective interface are proposed. The significance of the study is discussed with some suggestions for future study.