Cognitive strategies and learning from the World Wide Web

The purpose of this study was to identify the strategies used by adult learners in an open-ended hypermedia information system. Four participants were drawn from an introductory educational technology course that incorporated a unit on telecommunications. Participants completed a survey measuring reported knowledge in three domains (metacognitive, system, and subject) as well as self-efficacy toward technology. They then identified a personal search topic, and searched the World Wide Web for information using Netscape(R), thinking aloud as they searched. Data collection and analysis occurred in several phases: scripting the search, reading through the data, segmenting according to research question, encoding, and aggregating. Three major findings related to hypermedia information systems resulted from this study: (a) a variety of strategies are used by learners; (b) self-reported knowledge appears to affect the strategies used; and (c) perceptions of disorientation and perceived serf-efficacy influence the strategies used. Implications related to emerging information technologies and open-ended learning environments are considered.