The effects of instructional software designed in accordance with instructional transaction theory on achievements of students

Abstract

This research study was carried out to investigate how the instructional software (IS) designed in accordance with Instructional Transaction Theory (ITT) effects the academic achievements of students. Computer-Aided Instructional (CAI) system constituted the independent variable, while the academic achievement did the dependent variable. The samples of the study were the 130 students who took the Computer Programming course. Randomly selected 69 students in one study group used the IS based on ITT and 61 students in another study group used the conventional CAI system. Instructional transactions, which included the knowledge objects, were designed to form a relational knowledge base. The frame-based design principles, which are generally used for the CAI software, were adopted as an instructional design approach for the conventional CAI system. In line with the purposes of this research study, nonparametric statistical analysis methods were used. A significant difference was found between the study groups in academic achievements of students. This finding was on behalf of the instructional software designed in accordance with ITT. Furthermore, in terms of instructional software, learning styles of students revealed no significant difference regarding the academic achievements.