Enhancing interactive tutorial effectiveness through visual cueing

The present study investigated whether learning how to use a web service with an interactive tutorial can be enhanced by cueing. We expected the attentional guidance provided by visual cues to facilitate the selection of information in static screen displays that corresponded to spoken explanations. Unlike most previous studies in this area, we chose to implement a self-paced learning environment in this experiment. This would allow learners in the no-cueing condition to try and compensate for their visual search difficulties by reviewing the visual information during pauses between slides. They would not, however, be able to process auditory and visual information jointly in working memory (temporal contiguity effect), as learners would be able to do in the cueing condition. Results showed that, as predicted, the presence of cues (arrows pointing to each aurally evoked item in turn) (1) led to a reduction in the amount of time spent reviewing the visual information during pauses, (2) better learning of the verbal information (but without any effect on a subsequent procedural task, contrary to our hypothesis), and (3) greater perceived ease of learning. These results suggest that cueing can direct attention to the right area of the screen at the right time, thereby improving learning, even in self-regulated learning environments.