Hypermedia, students with learning disabilities and study skills

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of computer-based instruction in the development of study skills on junior high students with learning disabilities. Research in the deficiency of study skills in students with learning disabilities has been documented and has given educators indicators that this is an area where much work is needed. Results from studies conducted on the strategies of overcoming these problems indicate that study guides, whether teacher directed or student directed, produce significantly higher performance then self-study with students with learning disabilities (Horton & Lovitt, 1989). The study used a quasi-experimental design to investigate the enhancement of study skills after the introduction of a hypermedia authoring system used to develop study guides. It was hypothesized that there would be a significant positive impact in the acquisition of study skills, as assessed by the Learning and Study Strategies Inventory-HS, between a control group and an experimental group of junior high students with learning disabilities. The two groups consisted of thirty-two students from a private D.C. school exclusively for children with learning disabilities. Both groups were pretested and posttested using the inventory as well as a curriculum based content area test. In addition, both groups attended classes which were held for forty-five minutes a day, five days a week, over the course of a seven-week period. Statistical methods used to evaluate the effectiveness of an intervention included ANOVA, t tests, correlations (using Pearson's R), and other inferential statistical methods. The dependent variables measured were the students' mastery of study strategies as measured by gain scores pre and post tests of the ten subtests of the LASSI-HS, as well as, students' mastery of content area in Humanities as measured by gain scores on pre and post tests designed by the classroom teacher. Statistical analysis proved that statistical significance was only found on the subtest measuring student's attitude and motivation towards school in general. Practical significance found that hypermedia, increased student motivation towards the study guide creation and retention of content information.