Implications of Interpolated Testing for Online Education
Implications of Interpolated Testing for Online Education
Technological advancements in the 20th century led to the development of novel innovations, which made a substantial difference in the way we live. Most of these inventions filled a gap in occupations and operations that are usually tedious, delivering the promise of ease and accessibility. Along with these advancements, learning has also become more within our reach due to the number of ways that education is delivered to the masses. Today, the traditional way of learning that is confined within the classroom is no longer our only option. By just a few clicks of a button, one can venture “online” and view a video-recorded lecture to learn about any subject that they wish to be proficient in. Nevertheless, it is not enough to be satisfied about how well a technology seems to work. People need to discover if there are barriers that impede learning and if there are, how these barriers might be overcome.
Research Question
The study by Szpunar, Jing and Schacter (2014) aims to determine what obstacles students might encounter when learning from video-recorded lectures and how these obstacles can be overcome. In particular, the research aims to answer the question, “How well do students think they will perform on a later assessment that is associated with learning from a video-recorded lecture?” (Szpunar, Jing & Schacter, 2014). This is based on the findings of previous research, which indicated that students tended to overestimate their ability to assess later performance that is associated with video-recorded lectures (Szpunar, Jing & Schacter, 2014). This is also based on previous findings, which showed that students’ overconfidence in later performance can negatively impact their long-term retention in that overconfident students tend to feel that they no longer need to re-study their lectures thoroughly (Szpunar, Jing & Schacter, 2014).
Introduction & Methodology
Szpunar, Jing and Schacter (2014) used a quantitative design for the research, particularly the use of tests to determine how well the students could predict their performance. The participants for the research involved fifty-four high school students aged 16-18 years old who were attending the summer school program of Harvard University. They were randomly assigned to one of three experimental groups.
In particular, the students took part in a 1-hour learning session where they were asked to view a 21-minute basic statistics video. Students were told that the video-recorded lecture would be divided into four segments of equal length. They were also told that they would need to complete a number of problems in between or after each segment of the lesson and that they would take a cumulative test that covers the entire lecture (Szpunar, Jing & Schacter, 2014). However, in reality, only 1/3 of the students were asked to take tests after each of the 4 lecture segments (4-test group); 1/3 of the students were asked to take a test after the fourth and last segment of the lecture (1-test group); and another third were not asked to take any test after the lectures (0-test group) (Szpunar, Jing & Schacter, 2014). The students were then asked to give a rating of how well they think they would perform on the final test. This aimed to measure the students’ level of overconfidence with regards to their learning. Finally, one way ANOVAs were used to calculate and compare the students’ predicted performance against their actual performance.
Results
A statistical analysis of the results through one-way ANOVAs showed that testing reduced the students’ overconfidence. The students in the 4-test group and the 0-test group did not differ significantly in their final test performance whereas the students in the 1-test group made considerably lower predictions. The findings also showed that the 4-test group outperformed the 1-test group in the final test and that the 4-test group and the 0-test group had similar levels of performance in the final test. These results showed that in general the students were overconfident in their learning of the lecture; that interpolated testing helped improve the students’ learning of the lecture; but that a single test provided at the end of the lecture lowered the students’ overconfidence in their learning (Szpunar, Jing & Schacter, 2014).
Implications
This research by Szpunar, Jing and Schacter (2014) provides educators and cognitive scientists with increased understanding of the outcome of video-assisted learning experiences. This provides insight on the students’ learning efficacy and the things that teachers must ensure in order for them to be able to aid students in truly comprehending the lessons being presented to them, especially in highly quantitative subjects. Moreover, the study implied that testing can be used to reduce the students’ overconfidence in learning through online materials, in essence preventing students from taking these online learning materials for granted. With testing, the students are encouraged to take the learning material more seriously.
Critique
This study is significant for those who are involved in the field of education, particularly those who are behind the development of the curriculum design and the lesson plan. More specifically, the findings of this study will inform them of the effective teaching strategies that may be employed for the implementation of online curriculum. The study is similarly useful for those who are investigating the concepts of memory, attention, perception, and thinking -- topics under cognitive psychology -- as it provides insights on the learning styles employed by students when learning online and how these styles can be further enhanced. The study made sense for it was designed appropriately to answer the questions posed by the researchers. In particular, only a quantitative pre-test and post-test would enable the researchers to gauge how accurately the students could predict their actual test performance. A flaw of the research is that it may not be generalizeable to other subject matters. It also does not investigate the students’ personalities and learning styles with regards to their overconfidence in the use of an online medium for learning. In this regard, to obtain more generalizeable results, it would be recommended that a research that uses the same methodology be conducted for college and grade school students where their personalities and learning styles are taken into account and which involve other subject matters or courses such as the sciences and humanities. It is possible that differences in the subject matter and in the students’ learning style and personalities would also play a role in the students’ overconfidence with regards to learning using the online video format. Furthermore, based on the results reported in the paper, the writer would like to explore more on the recommendation of the researchers about designing a future study that teases apart the influence of testing and note taking on the retention of lecture content.
A related study by Tabard and Lo (2012) looks at exploring and investigating the learning effectiveness of online students at a 2-year community college. In that study, cognitive presence was the second most important component in online learning environments for online learners. The results also recognized the importance of effective online interactions and pedagogy as factors in increasing online learning success, something that the research by Szpunar, Jing and Schacter (2014) tried to imply. More specifically, the findings of Tabard and Lo (2012) asserted the importance of interactions in learning – something that was not present in the video lectures given to the students in the study by Szpunar, Jing and Schacter (2014).This further implies that despite the technological advancements in education, human interactions are still needed to ensure effective learning.
References
Szpunar, K. K., Jing, H. G. & Schacter, D. L. (2014). Overcoming overconfidence in learning from video-recorded lectures: Implications of interpolated testing for online education. Journal of Applied Research in Memory and Cognition, 3, 161-164
Tabar G., Lo, A. (2012). A descriptive study of online interactions and learning effectiveness: Perspectives of online faculty and students. Dissertation Abstracts International Section A: Humanities and Social Sciences, 69(11-A), 4302.
