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Expert-Novice Differences and Adaptive Multimedia 217 Copyright 2006, Idea Group Inc. Copying or distributing in print or electronic forms without written permission of Idea Group Inc. is prohibited. The usability of the rapid verification method as a means of real-time adaptation of multimedia (diagrams with on-screen textual explanations) presentations to current levels of users expertise in solving vector addition motion problems was pilot-tested with a limited sample of 16 Grade 11 high-school students in the school s computer lab. Using an adaptive computer-based tutor, the learner-adapted procedure was compared to an equivalent instruction without real-time adaptation to the level of learner expertise. The training packages were designed using Authorware Professional and included an initial rapid diagnostic test, an adaptive training session for the experimental group and a non-adaptive version for the control group, and a final rapid diagnostic test (similar to the initial test with re-worded tasks). To limit the task domain to relatively simple classes of problems, a restricted range of angle values between vectors were used in the tasks: 0 (the same direction of movements), 90 (perpendicular vectors), 180 (opposite directions of movements), 60 , and 120 . When 60 or 120 angles are used, only equal velocity values for both vectors were allowed. The diagnostic items in this restricted domain included one diagnostic task statement for each angle value, followed by a series of five possible (both correct and incorrect) solution steps for rapid verification with gradually-increasing levels of graphical and numerical solution details provided to students. For example, the first step indicated only directions of vectors; the second step also showed their numerical values; the third step indicated the direction of the resulting vector; the fourth step included the numerical expression for calculating the value of the resulting vector; and the fifth step indicated only the final answer. Each task statement was presented to students for around 15 seconds that were sufficient for reading the statement. Instead of technically restricting response times to several seconds (what could have forcefully interrupted some genuine responses), students were coached in responding fast during pre-test exercises with a sample of tasks from a different area. Users prior knowledge is an important factor contributing to individual differences in the effect of instruction based on text and visual displays (Schnotz, 2002). For learners with lower levels of expertise, based on the rapid diagnostic assessment, additional pictorial and textual information was provided. For learners with higher levels of expertise, redundant representations were eliminated. The adaptive training session was based on a series of faded worked examples or completion tasks (Renkl & Atkinson, 2003; Van Merri nboer, 1990), each followed by a problem-solving practice. According to this approach, novices learn most effectively when instructed using fully worked out examples. As levels of learners knowledge in the domain increase, parts of worked examples could be gradually omitted, thus increasing a relative share of problem-solving practice in instruction. In the learner-adapted group, learners were allocated to appropriate stages of the instructional procedure corresponding to the performance break-down points that were determined by the outcomes of the initial rapid diagnostic test. Appropriate fully and partially worked-out examples were presented, each followed by a problem-solving exercise. Depending on the outcome of the rapid diagnostic probes during instruction, each learner was allowed to proceed to the next stage of the training session or was required to repeat the same stage and then take the rapid test again. At each subsequent stage of the training session, a lower level of instructional guidance was provided to learners by eliminating increasingly more explanations of initial procedural steps in faded

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