The Effects of Higher Agency Roles on Learning and Perceptions

Educational technologies can be great tools for learning. The implementation of learning aids and scaffolds within these technologies often make them effective; however, due to various problems, students may take more passive approaches to learning when using these educational tools. This tends to lead to interactions that impair learning. This study approaches this issue by reexamining the learner’s role when interacting with educational technologies. Specifically, the current study attempts to support learning and perceptions by inviting students to approach a learning task like an interface designer or instructional designer. These roles derive from a previous study on higher agency roles. The results of the current study indicate that participants learned across all conditions, suggesting the assignment of roles may not impair learning. However, learning outcomes did not differ between conditions. Additionally, the interface designer and instructional designer roles were more critical of the sounds and organizations of each video than the learner role. Limitations of the study and future directions are discussed.