Hypertext and pluralism: from lineal to non-lineal thinking

ABSTRACT

One goal of American and Northern European higher education is to promote acquisition of a pluralistic cognitive style, which has as an important property— non-lineality. This paper investigates the effects of using of an advanced hypertext/hypermedia system, Intermedia, to develop instructional materials for two university courses in English and Biology intended to promote acquisition of non-lineal thinking. Use of Intermedia is shown to produce significant learning effects, which are somewhat more pronounced for persons involved in developing materials than for students using the system.

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INDEX TERMS

Primary Classification:
  H. Information Systems
  H.5 INFORMATION INTERFACES AND PRESENTATION (I.7)

Additional Classification:
  I. Computing Methodologies
  I.7 DOCUMENT AND TEXT PROCESSING
      I.7.2 Document Preparation
          Subjects: Hypertext/hypermedia

  J. Computer Applications
  J.1 ADMINISTRATIVE DATA PROCESSING
      Subjects: Education

  K. Computing Milieux
  K.3 COMPUTERS AND EDUCATION

General Terms:
Design, Documentation, Human Factors, Languages, Management, Measurement, Performance, Theory