The effects of instructional software designed in accordance with instructional transaction theory and the adaptive drill software on achievements of students

This research study was carried out to investigate how the instructionalsoftware designed in accordance with Instructional Transaction Theory (ITT) and thedrill software adaptive to learning styles effect the academic achievements ofstudents. The research design has two independent and one dependent variables.Computer-aided instructional method and computer-aided drill method constitutedthe independent variables, while the academic achievement did the dependentvariable. The samples of the study were the 130 freshman cadets of the TurkishMilitary Academy (TMA) who took the ?Computer Programming? course in 4different study groups. 31 cadets in 1st study group used the instructional softwaredesigned in accordance with ITT and the adaptive drill software; 38 cadets in 2ndstudy group used the instructional software designed in accordance with ITT and theconventional drill software; 29 cadets in 3rd study group used the conventionalinstructional and drill software; 32 cadets in 4th study group used conventionalinstructional software and the adaptive drill software.In line with the purposes of research study, nonparametric statistical analysismethods were used. A significant difference was found in academic achievements ofstudy groups separated according to the instructional software they used. Thisfinding is on behalf of the instructional software designed in accordance with ITT.The drill software adaptive to learning styles revealed no significant differenceregarding the academic achievements. In terms of instructional software and drillsoftware, learning styles of students too revealed no significant difference regardingthe academic achievements.