Psychology :: Cognitive studies of learning systems

The primary goal of the cognitive studies of learning systems area is to provide tests of a learning system’s ability to maximize the user’s cognitive capacities and thus improve the user’s learning experience. Researchers in this area are experts at conducting randomized controlled experiments to determine the effectiveness of learning technology systems. The randomized experiments allow researchers to determine if a current system is effective and suggest improvements based on current cognitive research.

Typical projects considered by this area

A study consists of an evaluation and a recommendation phase. The evaluation phase measures:
- Effectiveness: What is the extent to which the material was mastered?
- Engagement: To what extent is the user satisfied in terms of overall engagement and usability of the system?
Effectiveness and engagement can be measured by:
- Verbal protocol analysis of the user’s learning process
- Mastery: detailed analysis of pretest and posttest learning measures tailored to the learning domain being tested.
- Engagement: Engagement measurements can range from offline self report measures from the user to online engagement measure based on non intrusive sensing technology such as body position and facial expressions.
Based on the evaluation of the data in the evaluation stage, recommendations can be made for improving the learning environments.

Examples of Current Systems

AutoTutor
HURAA
iSTART
MetaTutor