Media Interactivity and Self-Efficacy: An Examination of Hypermedia First Aid Instruction

Abstract

An experimental study explored how user-controlled sequencing might help learners develop greater gains of self-efficacy and expertise from an interactive first aid database. Interactive user sequencing of content was hypothesized to influence gains in knowledge and self-efficacy regarding the use of information presented. It was also hypothesized that the way one navigates through information sources to fulfill an information goal (i.e., one's ''information processing style") would mediate the effects of media interactivity on self-efficacy. Participants (n 72) were assigned to 3 experimental groups; they accessed a computer-based, multimedia health database to learn about cardiopulmonary resuscitation and choking first aid techniques. Group treatments differed according to the level of user-sequencing control of the information and whether users followed a pedagogically predetermined sequence. Media interactivity did not appear to directly influence gains in either knowledge or self-efficacy. However, learners who exhibited an information processing style of seeking out help or hints were more likely to experience self-efficacy changes using interactive media than were ''perseverent" processors. A preliminary interpretation holds that an individual's processing style can potentially influence self-efficacy when he or she learns from different media formats.