The Attitudes of Field Dependence Learners towards Learner Interface Design in e Learning Instruction
The purpose of the study is to explore relationships between learners' cognitive styles and learner variables in preferences about learner interface design and attitudes to e learning instruction in distance education. Cognitive style has historically been referred to as a psychological dimension representing consistencies in an individual's manner of cognitive functioning, particularly with respect to acquiring and processing information. In this work, to determine learners' field dependence levels, The Group Embedded Figures Test (GEFT) was administered to 157 students enrolled on courses in various fields at Fatih University, Turkey. An attitude survey of students' preferences was carried out. The survey was developed and controlled by three experts in the field of instructional design and technology. It consisted of three sections with 20 items each. The cognitive styles field dependent (FD) field neutral (FN) and field independent (FI) were defined based on the mean scores of the GEFT groups. One half standard deviation was added to or subtracted from the mean to calculate the cognitive styles. The relationships between groups and attitudes and preferences in e learning instruction were investigated and the findings presented in tables. These tables included evaluation results for distance education programs as well as successful learning interface design principles defined by content, empowerment, control, clarity of context, visuals, challenges and feedback decisions.