Cognitive Loads in a Distance Training for Trainee Teachers

Abstract

One of the persistent problems of online and distance learning is how to effectively support students' successful learning outcomes. A promising approach to this issue is to investigate the extent that learning is determined by learner characteristics and skills. This study explores the effects of domain-specific prior knowledge, intrinsic motivation, computer attitude, computer anxiety, and learning management skills on learning in a distance-training course on media pedagogy for teachers. The data were collected from 127 trainee teachers who responded to various questionnaires and completed knowledge tests. We investigated whether the selected characteristics of learners could be used to model five cognitive load assessments that included ratings of content difficulty, learning ease, experienced pressure/tension, effort/importance while learning, and performance in tests. Computer anxiety and computer attitude were significant predictors of content difficulty, learning ease, and experienced pressure/tension. In addition, higher learning-strategy skills reduced ratings of content difficulty. Effort/Importance ratings were best modeled by intrinsic motivation and learning strategy usage. Performance was best predicted by prior knowledge, intrinsic motivation, and computer attitude.Keywords: distance training, teacher training, higher education, self-regulated learning, computer attitude, computer anxiety, cognitive load theory INTRODUCTIONDistance and online learning have become common and reputable educational methods in vocational training and higher education (e.g., Allen and Seaman, 2016). Numerous studies investigating theoretical and applied aspects of distance and online learning have been published. However, the problem of effectively supporting successful student learning still persists (Jo et al., 2016). To gain insight into this problem, one line of research has focused on the characteristics and skills of distance and online learners and the extent to which they predict learning processes and outcomes. To advance this research, we investigated the extent to which a selected set of learner characteristics affect cognitive load of trainee teachers while learning and performing in a script-based distance-training course about media pedagogy. As characteristics, domain-specific prior knowledge, intrinsic motivation, computer attitude, computer anxiety, and learning strategies were selected, because all of them have shown to be relevant for distance and online learning in empirical studies, and they represent cognitive, motivational, affective, and skill aspects. As theoretical background of the current study, the cognitive load theory (CLT) was chosen (Sweller, 2010). Stiller and Bachmaier Cognitive Loads in Distance TrainingThe CLT highlights the role of cognitive capacity in working memory for successful learning outcomes (Sweller, 2010). Working memory is limited in capacity. If memory items cannot be rehearsed, they decline within seconds. If the material to be learned is complex, that is, it compris...

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