Effects of cueing and collaboration on the acquisition of complex legal skills.

Full Abstract

BACKGROUND:
To overcome the teacher bandwidth problem in supporting large groups of students, both automated process support (cueing) and face-to-face feedback by peers during small group work (collaboration) can be provided to students.

AIM:
The purpose of this experimental study was to examine whether a multimedia practical containing cueing could be effectively combined with peer feedback to support the acquisition of the complex skill of preparing a plea in court.

SAMPLE:
In the context of a regular court practical, 50 junior law students at a Dutch university individually studied a multimedia practical and participated in small group discussions about intermediate learning outcomes of the practical.

METHOD:
The study examined the effects of cueing and collaboration on training outcomes and transfer pleas, and on cognitive activity during collaboration, by combining the multimedia practical and small group collaboration to support the complex task of preparing a plea in court.

RESULTS:
Both cueing and collaboration positively influence training outcomes, with participants without cueing benefiting most from additional collaboration. Transfer plea scores reveal a positive effect of collaboration but a negative effect of cueing. Analysis of discussions during small group collaboration reveals a negative effect of cueing on the level of cognitive activity.

CONCLUSION:
Peer feedback during small group work indeed appears to be a feasible option to be combined with or (partially) substitute individualized cueing when training complex learning tasks.

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Author information

Author/s: Hummel, Hans G K (HG); Paas, Fred (F); Koper, Rob (R);

Affiliation: Open University of The Netherlands, The Netherlands. hans.hummel(-atsign-)ou.nl

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Journal Article

Journal: The British journal of educational psychology (Br J Educ Psychol), published in England. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2006-Sep; vol 76 (issue Pt 3) : pp 613-31

Dates: Created 2006/09/06; Completed 2006/10/26;

PMID: 16953965, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 12/26/2008)

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MeSH headings (categories)

This article was linked to the MESH Headings shown below.

Achievement
Aptitude
Cognition
Cues
Humans

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