The effect of locus of control on achievement and preference in CAI tutorial systems which vary in terms of system control, learner control with coaching, and learner control with no coaching

The primary objective of this experimental research was to investigate the influence of internal and external locus of control on subject preference, achievement, and independent study effort in three CAI tutorial treatments featuring distinct presentation strategies of learner control. Treatment 1 was system controlled and allowed the subjects very little control over learning sequence strategies. Treatment 2 was learner controlled, but "coaching" messages gave subjects advice concerning learning frames they should review to solve the tutorial problems. Treatment 3 was similar to treatment 2 but no "coaching" messages were provided.;Hypotheses were developed concerning locus of control and (1) preference or "liking" for treatments featuring system control, learner control with coaching, or learner control with no coaching, (2) achievement, and (3) study effort as measured by the amount of study material learners independently reviewed. The study also investigated learning strategies developed by the subjects to solve the tutorial problems. Analysis of variance was used as the statistical methodology to test the hypotheses.;The study results found that externals preferred system control and internals preferred learner control with coaching. Both groups preferred learner control with no coaching least of all. Internals had higher gain scores in all three treatments than externals. For each group separately, gain scores were the same in tutorials featuring system control as compared to tutorials featuring learner control with coaching. Gain scores were the lowest in the tutorial using learner control and no coaching. Internals independently reviewed more study material than externals. Externals made more errors and "browsed" more than internals.;The interpretation of these results indicates there are six issues designers of CAI tutorial systems should consider in terms of the cognitive construct of locus of control as an individual learner difference: (1) Externals prefer more structure than internals. (2) Externals tend to achieve less than internals. (3) Externals follow coaching advice less than internals. (4) Externals make more errors than internals. (5) A CAI tutorial design with full user control and no coaching, is a poor design strategy. (6) There is no difference in learner achievement between CAI tutorials using full system control as compared to systems with full user control where coaching is provided.