Students watching asynchronous online lectures often struggle with active attention, may be overwhelmed by complex information, and may inaccurately judge the depth of their own learning. Learning prompts are possible solution to these issues, however, some research suggests prompts may be more effective for some students than others. The goals of this study were to (a) test the effectiveness of different types of prompts in online physics learning and (b) determine whether individual differences moderate the effectiveness of prompts. Students (N=253) enrolled in physics courses over three semesters watched a video lecture on the concept of simple harmonic motion. During the lecture, students were shown a) cognitive prompts, intended to facilitate elaboration and organization strategies, b) metacognitive prompts meant to facilitate self-monitoring and regulation, or c) no prompts. Students were asked to type a response to each prompt before continuing the lecture. Afterwards, students completed a quiz on simple harmonic motion. Students enrolled during our third semester of data collection (n=102) also responded to survey items meant to assess differences in studying approach and metacognitive awareness. Students who received cognitive prompts performed significantly better than students who received no prompts. Furthermore, students who reported having more disorganized study approaches performed better than similarly disorganized students in other conditions. There was no effect of condition for students who scored lower on disorganization. Students who received metacognitive prompts did not score significantly higher than students in other conditions. These findings suggest embedding prompts to promote elaboration and organization strategies may improve learning. This intervention may be most beneficial for less organized students.

Raymond Chastain

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