Effects of Learner Control and Hypermedia Preference on Cyber-students Performance in a Web-Based Learning Environment

This study investigated whether the factor of "hypermedia preference" in a web-based learning environment (WBLE) affects students' task performance under "learner control with and without advisement" conditions. Eighty-one undergraduates at National Taiwan Normal University were randomly assigned to a learner-controlled treatment, with or without advisement. Two-way full factorial model ANOVA was used to test for main effects and the interaction assumption between hypermedia preference and conditions of control on means difference between posttest and pretest scores. As expected, students' task performance is mainly affected by learner control (with/without advisement). However, although students' hypermedia preference has no direct relation to their performance in WBLE, when hypermedia preference works together with learner control, there is a significant joint influence on students' task performance. Students with a low hypermedia preference level benefited significantly from the presence of learner control with advisement. Students with a high hypermedia preference level were not significantly affected by the presence or absence of learner control with advisement.