| The continuous advancements in technology are changing the manner in which instruction and training is provided. Advanced virtual environments and computer simulations that provide automated instruction are swiftly replacing the traditional classrooms and human instructors. Although these instructional technologies can utilize advanced training metaphors, they are unable to support the needs (i.e. anxiety, frustration, boredom) of each individual student as do human instructors. Individual differences in learning is a topic that has long been studied (i.e. Ackerman, 1974; Ackerman, Kanfer, & Goff, 1995; Cronbach, 1949; Emerson et al., 1999; Gagne, 1989; Kyollen & Shute, 1989; Snow, 1989), and evidence has been provided that student's have different needs. Additionally, researchers have advocated the importance of noncognitive variables (i.e. Ackerman, Kanfer, & Goff, 1995; Bandura, 1997; Efklides et al., 1997; Kanfer & Heggestad, 1999) such as affect (i.e. emotion), personality, and motivation on learning outcomes. There is another body of research (i.e. Cacioppo & Petty, 1986; Fowles, 1986; Grossman, 1992; Levine, 1986; Scherer, 1993) that has investigated techniques, such as physiological and behavioral analysis, for evaluating affect. Furthermore, it is indicated that an individual's affect is reflective of his perception of the environment. Consequently, it has been proposed that an affective component (a tool for evaluating student affect) can be developed to enhance instructional technologies with the ability to tailor instruction to optimize the student's interaction with the instructional application. This document describes an experiment that was conducted to provide support for the development of an affective component. Specifically, this experiment investigated the contributions of instructional feedback styles, personality, and affect on the learning outcomes for a crisis management tutorial. The results of this experiment provided support that these variables (feedback style, personality, and affect) influenced knowledge retention and that affect can be evaluated while a student is interacting with a computerized instructional application. |
