REAP Study on Personalization of Readings by Topic (Fall 2006)
Contents
REAP Study on Personalization of Readings for Increased Interest
Abstract
Glossary
Intrinsic Motivation: Motivation to learn for learning's own sake rather than some external goal.
Extrinsic Motivation: Motivation for learn in order to satisfy an external goal, such as completing a task or passing an assessment.
Personalization: The preference of practice materials to match the personal interests of the learner. In this context, this term is used as it is in information retrieval rather than as in Mayer's work (Clark & Mayer, 2003) where it means using casual, direct language.
Research question
Dependent variables
Immediate post-test scores for practiced words.
Number of words practiced
Overall post-test scores (essentially a product of the previous two)
Long-term retention test scores similar to post-test but administered months later.
Transfer of knowledge: sentence production tasks for target words, correct use of words in writing assignments for other courses.
Independent variables
Personalization of readings by topics of interest. In the control condition, the tutor did not use potential personal interest as a factor in its selection of reading materials. In the treatment condition, the tutor did use interest as a factor. All other selection criteria were the same in both conditions. Time on task was also the same.
Hypotheses
Explanation
Descendents
Annotated bibliography
Forthcoming.