Learning and Problem-Solving with Hypermedia in the Twenty-First Century: From Hypertext to Multiple Web Sources and Multimodal Adaptivity

Abstract

Most current digital learning materials are hypermedia environments that have been postulated to stimulate active, individualized and multi-perspective learning because they force learners to explore hyperlinks in an interactive and self-directed way. At the same time, however, it was demonstrated repeatedly that learners easily experience cognitive overload and disorientation when navigating hypermedia environments. Additionally, successful hypermedia learning requires strong learning prerequisites in terms of domain-specific prior knowledge and self-regulated learning skills. This chapter reviews the research on learning from hypermedia with a strong focus on research conducted in our own lab. Additionally, two novel developments in hypermedia research are discussed that received increasing attention recently. First, evaluating the quality of multiple sources of information during hypermedia navigation has become an increasingly important aspect of hypermedia learning. For instance, the World Wide Web (WWW) and particularly the Web 2.0 reflect a global network of information nodes of very diverse origin and quality that require novel skills of source evaluation. Second, interactive displays such as those used in smartphones, tablets, or multi-touch tables as well as other sensor-based interaction devices have led to a paradigm shift in how we navigate hypermedia environments, allowing for an intuitive selection and manipulation of information by means of touch and gestures and even for novel forms of implicit interaction. Accordingly, multimodal interaction with hypermedia environments is an important current research topic that focuses on how bodily interaction may be better used to connect cognition and technology.