How Does Courseware’s Design Affect Learners’ Cognitive-Strategy

Sri Hartati R. Suradijono

Abstract: The emergence of the computer as an aid to education, with its unlimited range of instructional control options available to designer and user supports the vast development of coursewares. Hundreds of coursewares, aim to increase learners’ learning outcomes were developed. However, to have a courseware fits with learners’ characteristics many issues need to be explored. Referring to Resnick’s (1989) definition of learning as knowledge construction, it is critical for coursewares to support learners in the process of acquiring, retaining, and retrieving different kinds of knowledge and performance. In acquiring, retaining, and retrieving information learners use procedures known as cognitive strategies. It is assumed that cognitive strategies are integral to the process of learning, but initiation of their use may come from the learner’s self-instruction, or, from an instructional unit or system. This study intends to show how courseware design affects the use of cognitive strategies, especially from the high-school learners in Indonesia. A close examination on the psychological processes in learning was made to address questions: (a) how does screen density affect the use of cognitive strategies? (b) Does material presented in a linear format differs with material presented in non-linear (hypertext-based) in producing learner’s learning outcomes? The results show that learners employed better cognitive strategies when presented with 25% text density material compare to 60%. Hypertext-based courseware was also found to have an effect on how learner processed the information.

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Contribution Of Russian Activity Theory To Psychology In Indonesia

In this paper my aim is to introduce the concept of activity and its potential contribution to Indonesian psychology, to establish dialogue with socio-cultural realities in Indonesia, and to build meaningful psychology body of knowledge. To achieve the aim for Indonesian audience, it is necessary fi rst to understand the crisis in psychology in early decades of 20th century. The crisis was much debated mostly among European continental authors (Teo, 2005: 28). Vygotsky is one of major fi gures in the debate. He and his followers have developed an approach based on Marxist philosophy that is aimed to overcome the crisis. Understanding of the crisis is an important background to understand activity theory.

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The Use Of Verbal Commentary In Hazard Perception Training For Older Drivers

Has consistently suggested that older drivers have higher crash rates per mile travelled. One aspect of driving skills that has been found to correlate with accident involvement is hazard perception ability, which involves anticipating potential hazards on roads. Previous studies on young drivers have demonstrated that hazard perception ability could be trained and improved using a verbal commentary. Therefore, the current study aimed to examine the effectiveness of a verbal commentary in improving older drivers’ hazard perception ability. Participants were randomly assigned to either a training or control group. Trained participants watched a video that was accompanied by an expert’s commentary; while, control participants watched the same video with the verbal commentary edited out. Participants in both groups completed a hazard perception test before and after watching the training or control video. In addition to that, all participants completed an assessment battery measuring cognitive and visual functioning, which have been reported to decline in older adults. In line with the fi rst hypothesis, the trained group performed better than the control group on the hazard perception test after training. This indicated that the hazard perception training using a verbal commentary was effective in older drivers. Partially supporting the second hypothesis, it was found that nearly all cognitive measures were correlated with the pre-training hazard perception response time but no correlation was found for the visual measures. Contrary to the third hypothesis, there was no interaction found between anxiety level and group (trained vs. control) on the post-training hazard perception response time. Thus, it indicated that highly anxious participants did not benefi t more or less from the training. Strengths
and limitations of the study were discussed in relation to each fi nding, as well as the implication of training effect to real driving.

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A Statement of a First-Born Child: “Born first and Wants to Stay First!” (An Auto-ethnographic Study)

The focus of this study is to examine the characteristics possessed by a first- born child and the way the first- born child deals with life in a day to day basis based on birth order. It also looks at culture and other social contexts in determining life decisions and stories of a first-born child. Furthermore, it looks upon the idea of sibling competition and rivalry and how siblings play a very big role in a first-born’s life. The information is acquired through the method of self-narrative, and interview with family members were also conducted in order to test validity as well as reliability of data obtained. The results show that a first- born child experiences a period of “dethronement” when siblings are born and that has an impact on the child’s life as well as both her personality and behaviour. Several characteristics that were seen to be present were that she possessed a leadership trait, bossy, dominant, nurturing, and people pleaser.

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Time Perspective And Psychological Problems Among Adolescents Affected By Violent Conflict In Indonesia

Conflicts and wars in several areas in Indonesia have caused a large number of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs). IDPs adolescents are a vulnerable group for developing psychological problems. There was a concern about the form of time perspective that these adolescents have and its relationship with the occurrence of psychological problems in the future. However, there is a lack of studies of internally displaced persons that assess the relationship between psychological distress and time perspective in low income countries. The study aim was to assess psychological status and time perspective of adolescents who were affected by violent conflict in Indonesia. Cross sectional community based study. Questionnaires were used to obtain data from 129 adolescents whose lives were affected by violent conflict, both displaced and non-displaced. Subjects were selected by simple random sampling. Displaced adolescents were present-past oriented, while non-displaced adolescents were future oriented. Displaced adolescents had more difficulties compared to non-displaced adolescents, especially in emotional symptoms. Factors like migration status, gender and religion have partial significance toward time dominance and psychological problems. There is a significant association between time perspective and psychological problems in which present-past oriented adolescents had greater difficulties than future oriented adolescents. The most common problem was emotional symptoms, especially anxiety problems.

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