E-Learning Today: A Review of Research on Hypertext Navigation
Use of hypertext is pervasive in education today—it is used for all online course delivery as well as many stand-alone delivery methods such as educational computer software and compact discs (CDs). This article will review Kintsch’s Construction-Integration and Anderson’s Adaptive Control of Thought-Rational (ACT-R) cognitive architectures and examine how each explains the empirical evidence of comprehension problems related to the use of hypertext systems. This article also discusses design tools based on those two architectures (Cognitive Walkthrough for the Web [CWW] and Scent-Based Navigation and Information Foraging in the ACT [SNIF-ACT] respectively) that can help educational content developers screen their hypertext products for possible comprehension problems prior to its release.
