33.7 Instructional Choice

A fundamental question that should guide investigators of learner control is: Why do students make the choices they do? Learner-controlled instruction is, by definition, instruc-tion in which students are required to make decisions at various points. In order to guide the design and use of learner control, it is necessary to understand the composi-tion of such decisions: that is, can we specify the precursors and effects of the decisions students will make? However, as has been argued by Reeves (1993), very few learner control studies have been grounded on such learning-theoretical questions. Rather, in the simple pursuit of the winner in the contest between learner control and program control, too much learner-control research has proceeded in the absence or ignorance of relevant basic psychological research that might clarify the actual phenomenon being studied, namely, the act of learner choice.

We seek at this point to identify the different kinds of person variables that, it is conjectured, in combination with the actual choices made (i.e., the instructional materials encountered), help to account for the unevenness of learning found under learner-controlled instruction.

As was pointed out earlier, Reigeluth and Stein (1983) advocate the use of "informed learner control by motivated learners"' [emphases added]. This statement suggests two qualitatively different sets of individual difference variables that could influence the effectiveness of learner--controlled instruction.

We should first be interested in a student's capacity to make rational choices (i.e., an "informed" student). "Rational" means how adequately they can appraise both the demands of the task and their own learning needs in relation to that task in order to select appropriate instruc-tional support. Tennyson and Park (1984) seem to call this the student's "perception of learning need," and also point out the need for its further study in order to be of use in effective learner-controlled instruction. These perceptions of learner need, too, will vary across learners.

Secondly, because both motivation and learner-con-trolled instruction are, at least in part, defined by choice activities, individual differences in motivational variables might also contribute to our understanding of the differen-tial effects of learner-controlled instruction on learning. In contrast to attempting to specify some rationally based determinants of choice, here we need to ask if there are certain emotion-related characteristics of the student that would allow us to predict how inclined (i.e., motivated) a person is to-make a particular choice. We are particularly concerned here with identifying "gut-lever, predispositions, tendencies, and preferences of the students that operate to direct a choice toward one alternative or another.

The remainder of this review examines the relationships between students' rational understanding of their learning needs, their motivations to choose on an emotional level, their on-task performances, and learning when offered instruction to some degree under their control. First, the rationally-cognitively oriented variables are presented. Following that is a discussion of emotional-motivational variables that influence choice and learning.