Informatica

This discussion brings together three different perspectives, – from cognitive science, ergonomics and learning – that are crucial to consider in the process of designing hypertext as a constructivist environment for learning. The critical implications from all the perspectives are illustrated in several screen shots from one concrete hypertext application for learning of Pascal programming.

Despite the vast and rich panorama of hypertext research, to date there are still no clear definitions of what hypertext really is. Classical references describe the concept “hypertext” as a non-linear way of thinking, reading, and accessing the information which is best done on the computer screen. This paper shows the present situation where hypertext is seen as the interaction between the learner and an information source; it raises questions about how information should be organised so as to promote better learning. Due to the fact that the present empirical results still show no consensus among hypertext researchers about the different representations of educational hypertexts; this paper will bring together three perspectives, in particular traditional, pedagogical and psychological points of view, in order to obtain a coherent view of the current situation in hypertext research. The traditional perspective will outline two main problems that seem endemic to hypertext: problems of navigation and cognitive overload. The pedagogical perspective will summarise the main ideas of three possible theoretical justifications of existing educational hypertexts: the ideas of concept mapping, cognitive flexibility theory, and semantic networking. The psychological perspective will evaluate hypertext from the perspective of human factors (or ergonomics).