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classroom study (Emurian & Durham, 2001). Rather than using a “control group” for
comparison, the tutoring system as an “independent variable” was enhanced by adjusting
factors that were considered instrumental in potentiating the learning effects, and all prior
observations are considered the “control” observations. In the present study, the greatest
change in skill and self-reported confidence occurred between the Pre-Tutor and Post-Tutor
assessment occasions, at least for the Completers, and this outcome is consistent with the
power function of learning (Lane, 1987). This outcome was also observed in the previous
study, and the effect was stronger under the present enhancements. The enhancements to
the tutoring system interfaces, especially the row interface, led to robust transfer in writing
the Java code after use of the tutoring system, and the programmed use of the brief row tutor
interface by the students had the effect of maintaining the acquired skill for the Completer
group and improving the skill for the Noncompleter group over the duration of the course.
These outcomes showed the reliability of the learning and self-reported effects over a
broader population of learners. Because the learners in both studies were similar in terms of
self-reported prior experience, demographics, and evaluation of the tutor, the effects
observed in the present study were confidently attributable to the tutoring system enhance-
ments rather than to between-group bias. In fact, even following a demonstration of relative
effectiveness in a statistical paradigm of decision making, any further observation of the
utility of a tutoring system is perforce undertaken with a different learner at a different point
in time. It is for this reason that systematic replication is favored as an efficient and
demonstrably effective research methodology when a series of programmatic enhancements
is intended.
The confidence ratings for Completers and Noncompleters were similar at the conclu-
sion of the course, as were the ratings of satisfaction with the tutor. It was also the case,
however, that the behavior of the Noncompleters sometimes differed in important ways from
that of the Completers, in terms of confidence ratings and performance. Prior to using the tutor,
Noncompleters reported relatively less confidence than Completers, and by the end of the
course, only three of the six Noncompleters were able to write the Java Applet correctly during
the final transfer assessment. That the group of Noncompleter students came to the course
with less readiness for learning Java than did the Completer students was also indicated by
the observation that the former group showed more errors on the item familiarity interface.
That interface required only copying the Java item into a key-in box, showing the importance
of basic symbol transcription and data entry skills that may set the occasion for more
advanced learning of the meaning of the Java items. It should not always be assumed, then,
that students with similar intellectual abilities and having the prerequisites for a course are
equally prepared to master a new knowledge domain, when the instructional technology is
not engineered to overcome individual differences. There are fundamental skills that all
learners must possess, and programmed instruction provides a series of cumulative experi-
ences that allow adequate preparation for each successive stage in the learning process.
The assessment of writing the code correctly in the tutoring system and on the transfer
task was undertaken without benefit of observing compile-time or run-time errors, which are
obviously important ingredients of a professional's program development and testing.
Nevertheless, the present enhancement to the tutoring system resulted in robust increases
in correct serial constructions in contrast to the previous study (Emurian & Durham, 2001),
where few learners showed similar transfer of learning between the tutoring system and
subsequent assessment occasions. The change in skill observed in the present study was
