| Because digitization of information has become an accepted practice, devising instructional interventions to facilitate library users in searching online library databases is a critical issue in library service. A review of the problem-solving literature shows that learners often reason by analogy, and that instruction which includes models of problem solutions provides scaffolds for new learners and can lead to analogous transfer of learning. To compare the effectiveness of instruction on online searching based an analogs, 63 students from a college population received one of two treatments, either a conceptual approach using Conceptual Models or a procedural approach using Worked Examples. After 50 minutes of instruction, subjects took a written knowledge acquisition test designed to detect differences in procedure use, strategies applied, and conceptual (system) knowledge and an abstract reasoning test from the Differential Aptitude Test. The following day, each subject solved three online problems at a computer. One of the three online problems introduced a hint to help students reformulate search terms. An ANCOVA on written test scores, controlling for abstract reasoning, showed significant differences in performances between groups with the Worked Example subjects consistently faring better than the Conceptual Model subjects. An exception to this finding were results from the third online problem where performances between subjects evened out in all categories examined. A test for homogeneity of regression revealed no interaction between performance outcomes and abstract reasoning. These student performance outcomes suggested that the procedural approach to online instruction, in a face-to-face setting with a one-time training limit, was the more effective approach. In some instances, it was found that the conceptual explanations that were substituted in the Conceptual Model treatment for the unembellished demonstrations used in the Worked Example instruction seemed to interfere with learning of online searching mechanics. However, anecdotal evidence suggested that the conceptually-trained students were more inventive in their applications of the search formulation techniques modeled in the analogs. Further development of effective online searching instruction requires refining skill taxonomies and error typologies, creating reliable measures of performance, codifying a vocabulary for instructing and assessing end users, and incorporating online searching into the curriculum. |
