Testing the Effectiveness of CAI
Tests to evaluate the effectiveness of CAI usually follow the psychometric tradition. This involves using standardized proficiency tests to measure the effects of instructional programs or methods on student learning outcomes and comparing the results. In the psychometric tradition, there will typically be two groups of students: one group will use a CAI program and the control group will be taught in the
traditional classroom setting. Sometimes a pre-test is carried out whereby each group is examined on
knowledge before partaking in the learning process. At the end of the instruction period, the two groups
undertake a test to determine what has been learnt. This type of evaluation of the CAI process is perhaps
the most common because it follows traditional methods and is easiest and least labour intensive to
perform.
However, it has been recognised that the psychometric tradition alone cannot fully analyses CAI
effectiveness as it is often too simplistic. With interaction analysis (Chaudron, 1988), the interaction
between the learner and the CAI program is observed. Interaction analysis can be either pedagogically motivated or psycholinguistic ally-motivated. Pedagogically-motivated research tries to determine what
works. What resources does the learner use? Is the program being used in the way that the designer
intended? Psycholinguistic ally-motivated research aims to find out what learning strategies learners use.
Clark (1987), however, argues that any learning gain cannot be unambiguously attributed to the use of
computers. He claims that it is very difficult to separate the computer from the other variables such as
practice and reinforcement that affect the learning process. However, as it is generally agreed that CAI
programs are at least as effective as traditional methods, it will be assumed that they are of benefit,
especially where the traditional methods may not be available.