This study examined the effects of instructional aids and the cognitive style of field dependence-independence (FDI) on students’ structural knowledge and attitude toward program design in a hypermedia learning environment. Participants were 75 undergraduates enrolled in classes whose curricula dealt with technology applications in Education course. Prior to the treatment, the Group Embedded Figures Test (GEFT) was administered to determine the extent to which participants were field dependent, field mixed, or field independent.
Next, participants were asked to complete a pretest and a Web Attitude Scale Questionnaire. Participants were randomly assigned to either navigational map treatment group or content list treatment group based on their scores of GEFT. Data analysis consisted of two 3X2 ANCOVA to examine the effect of FDI and instructional aids on students’ structural knowledge and attitude toward program design as measured by the post test. Data analysis revealed no significant interaction between FDI and instructional aids in both structural knowledge performance and attitude toward program design. No significant main effects for instructional aids or field type on both structural knowledge performance and attitude toward program design were detected.
Additional analysis of MANOVA on the attitude toward program design revealed that students’ feelings of disorientation were significantly decreased by using the navigational map approach when compared with those using the content list approach. Students in the navigational map treatment reported feeling significantly less disoriented than the students in the content list group.