Department of studies in Education, University of Mysore, India.
Traditionally the most used media in education systems are textbooks. These books, despite many advantages also have disadvantages. Carrying these heavy books on their delicate shoulders lead to subsequent physiological problems. Text books needs to be replaced with the Hypertext. Hypertext makes better use of the classroom, complimenting the hyper environment and enhancing learning. Hypertext learning environment discussed will provide an overview of each topic, the design of the respective environment, and recent supportive research. These environments share common characteristics with one another. Traditional expository texts typically follow formats that have been well established and predictable. Therefore, one of the important differences in learning from hypertext compared to learning from traditional text is that students need to understand the structure of the information space, i.e. they need to understand how the different semantic units are related to each other so that they can make better navigational decisions. We need to accept this and think more, as learning from hypertext requires a high degree of self-monitoring; having a clear learning goal in mind should enhance learning. Overall, the results of this paper suggest that students need explicit modeling and scaffolding support in order to learn complex knowledge from a case-based, conceptually-indexed hypertext learning environment. Implications of these findings for future hypertext and hypermedia research are also considered. The conclusions from this paper are that hypertext brings about an interest in students for learning. Strategic use of new educational technologies can enhance learning and teaching. However, to be effective, new educational technologies need to be supported by innovative pedagogical approaches which in turn enable collaboration, communication and mobility.
Hypertext, learning, web-based training
