Information-conveying approaches and cognitive styles of mental modeling in a hypermedia-based learning environment

The increasing spread of Internet technology has highlighted the need for a better understanding of the fundamental issues concerning human users in a virtual space. Despite the great degree of navigational freedom, however, not all hypermedia users have the capability to locate information or assimilate internal knowledge. Research findings suggest that this type of problem could be solved if users were able to hold a cognitive overview of the hypermedia structure. How a learner can acquire the correct structural knowledge of online information has become an important factor in learning performance in a hypermedia environment. Variables that might influence learners' abilities in structuring a cognitive overview, such as users' cognitive styles and the different ways of representing information, should be carefully taken into account. The results of this study show that the interactions between information representation approaches and learners' cognitive styles have significant effects on learners' performance in terms of structural knowledge and feelings of disorientation. Learners' performance could decline if a representational approach that contradicts their cognitive style is used. Finally, the results of the present study may apply only when the learner's knowledge level is in the introductory stage. It is not clear how and what type of cognitive styles, as well as information representation approaches, will affect the performance of advanced and expert learners.