Supporting Navigation and Learning in Educational Hypermedia

Computers have become commonplace tools in educational environments and are used to provide both basic and supplemental instruction to students on a variety of topics. Searching for information in hypermedia documents, whether on the Web or through individual educational sites, is a common task in learning activities. Previous research has identified a number of variables that impact how students use electronic documents. Individual differences such as learning style or cognitive style (Andris, 1996; Fitzgerald & Semrau, 1998), prior topic knowledge (Ford & Chen, 2000), level of interest (Lawless & Kulikowich, 1998), and gender (Beasley & Vila, 1992) all influence performance. Additionally, characteristics of the document such as the inherent structure of the material, the linking structure (Korthauer & Koubek, 1994), and the types of navigation tools that accompany the document can affect student performance and behaviour (Boechler & Dawson, 2002; McDonald & Stevenson, 1998, 1999). In short, the effective use of hypermedia documents in educational settings depends on complex interactions between individual skills (e.g., spatial and reading skills) and the features of the document itself.