Contextual factors affecting hint utility

BACKGROUND: Interactive learning environments often provide help strategies to facilitate learning. Hints, for example, help students recall relevant concepts, identify mistakes, and make inferences. However, several studies have shown cases of ineffective help use. Findings from an initial study on the availability of hints in a mathematics problem-solving activity showed that early access to on-demand hints were linked to lack of performance improvements and longer completion times in students answering problems for summer work. The same experimental methodology was used in the present work with a different student sample population collected during the academic year to check for generalizability. RESULTS: Results from the academic year study showed that early access to on-demand-hints in an online mathematics assignment significantly improved student performance compared to students with later access to hints, which was not observed in the summer study. There were no differences in assignment completion time between conditions, which had been observed in the summer study and has been attributed to engagement in off-task activities. Although the summer and academic year studies were internally valid, there were significantly more students in the academic year study who did not complete their assignment. The sample populations differed significantly by student characteristics and external factors, possibly contributing to differences in the findings. Notable contextual factors that differed included prior knowledge, grade level, and assignment deadlines. CONCLUSIONS: Contextual differences influence hint effectiveness. This work found varying results when the same experimental methodology was conducted on two separate sample populations engaged in different learning settings. Further work is needed, however, to better understand how on-demand hints generalize to other learning contexts. Despite its limitations, the study shows how randomized controlled trials can be used to better understand the effectiveness of instructional designs applied in online learning systems that cater to thousands of learners across diverse student populations. We hope to encourage additional research that will validate the effectiveness of instructional designs in different learning contexts, paving the way for the development of robust and generalizable designs.