Relationship between hypermedia instruction and learning outcomes at different levels of Bloom's Taxonomy of the cognitive domain

The paper focuses on the investigation of a relationship between hypermedia and different cognitive levels of learning, as defined by Bloom's Taxonomy of educational objectives. Hypermedia is an outgrowth of hypertext and provides a non-linear, associative linking of text, images (graphics and video) and sounds. Student performance overall, as well as at the lower cognitive categories, corresponding to knowledge acquisition and routine application stages of learning, was significantly better when hypermedia instruction was used. There was also evidence that low ability learners benefited from hypermedia more at the lower cognitive categories, while high ability learners benefited more at the higher cognitive categories. While a review of the educational literature on the subject found few relevant studies, their results support these conclusions. The paper also discusses limitations of the analysis and makes recommendations for the future study.