Implementation Intentions Related to Self-Regulatory Processes Do Not Enhance Learning in a Multimedia Environment

Abstract

Learners face various obstacles during learning from illustrated texts that can be conceptualized against the backdrop of frameworks of self-regulated learning. According to these frameworks, for learning to be successful, students must use appropriate cognitive strategies, hold adequate self-efficacy beliefs, and invest sufficient effort in learning. We investigated whether implementation intentions (if-then-plans) relating to these self-regulatory processes improve learning in a multimedia environment and whether they differ in their effectiveness depending on the self-regulatory process that they address. Learners were either asked to internalize an implementation intention relating to cognitive strategies, self-efficacy beliefs, or effort, or they did not receive any instructional support (control condition). Then, they learned about a mechanical system from a multimedia message and finally were tested on the learned contents. Contrary to expectations, none of the implementation intentions increased learning outcome, compared with the control condition, nor did the conditions differ from each other. However, implementation intentions interacted with the self-efficacy beliefs that learners already held. Higher self-efficacy beliefs were associated with better learning outcome, unless learners received an implementation intention telling them to use a multimedia-specific cognitive strategy. Interfering cognitive processes are discussed as a possible explanation for this interaction. In summary, implementation intentions should be further investigated and optimized before they can be implemented in real-life learning contexts.

Do Minimal Interventions Increase Participation Rates in Voluntary Online Training at High School?

“…Our intervention included a shorter introduction, which was presented online. A low specificity of the I (e.g., Hoch et al, 2020) may also account for our findings because the students were free to formulate their I. Literature also shows that the success of an I might be moderated by intention stability (e.g., Godin et al, 2010;Prestwich & Kellar, 2014) or peer and school norms (e.g., Yeager et al, 2019).…”

“…Our intervention included a shorter introduction, which was presented online. A low specificity of the I (e.g., Hoch et al, 2020) may also account for our findings because the students were free to formulate their I.…”

“…Moreover, this study takes a person-centered approach by addressing the question of whether there are different profiles in students' motivation and grades and whether these profiles affect training use. Apart from very few exceptions (Canning et al, 2019;Hoch et al, 2020), minimal interventions seemed to have great effects. The present study, however, gives reason to critically evaluate in which contexts minimal interventions are successful.…”

How to support learning with multimedia instruction: Implementation intentions help even when load is high

“…However, the findings were less robust when using the same implementation intentions but with other learning content with shorter learning durations (Hoch et al, 2020a, 2021). In addition, there was no effect when a similar implementation intention was used that addressed a different, less specific situational cue in the if‐part (Hoch et al, 2020b). Moreover, it is noticeable that when the addressed cognitive strategies were used more frequently by the learners, an effect of implementation intentions on the learning outcome was shown (Experiment 1: Hoch et al, 2020a; Experiment 1: Stalbovs et al, 2015).…”

Diagnosing Pilgrimage Common Diseases by Interactive Multimedia Courseware

“…It has been demonstrated by related work that learning models can be used in real-time and they can be applied in practical education activities. This model helps teachers and pilgrims to understand that different individuals have special ways of obtaining information 26,27,28 . This way, the teachers will be able to use different training techniques so that each pilgrim will be able to learn what is taught.…”