The program content was seen to be related to the course content, however the reason for using the program was not clear to the students. The program did not encourage the students to think deeply about the topic. The program did not enable the students to form a deep understanding of the topic. The students felt that the program did not provide enough information to effectively learn about the topic. From this information it is clear that the programs differed from each other in terms of their effectiveness in meeting the learning needs of the students, in part because of the context in which they were used, and in part due to the effectiveness of the information provided and the learning activities required.
Contextual factors are clearly important.
The students in Group A saw a clear need for the knowledge contained within the program, and were happy to use it. Group B students, by contrast, did not understand why they were asked to use the program, and did not want to use it, despite the fact that the content was clearly related to their course of study. This aspect of lack of preparation is likely to have influenced performance. It is difficult to assess by how much, however. A students were generally satisfied with the information provided by the program, and found it helpful in reaching an in depth understanding, a self report that is supported by the SOLO data.