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Finding information online for educational purposes (i.e., information problem solving, IPS) constitutes a complex task that requires knowledge, skills, and attitudes to perform correctly. Research exploring the problems students encounter with IPS shows there are major deficiencies in all aspects in people of all age groups. This indicates that IPS is a complex cognitive skill, and instruction should focus on teaching these skills and subskills in an integrated and coordinated fashion, working on developing the necessary declarative knowledge, practicing the necessary skills, and forming the right attitudes in order to learn how to deal with new information problems. While its importance as an essential 21st century skill is widely acknowledged, most educational institutions struggle with the application of instructional guidelines and encounter problems with the implementation of IPS instruction, often leading to subpar instruction in short library training sessions that forego the benefits of whole-task instruction. Embedding IPS instruction within a meaningful context, presenting it simultaneously with domain-specific instruction can lead to deeper learning and improved transfer. The aim of the research carried out for this dissertation is to investigate instructional design principles in order to formulate practical guidelines for teachers and instructional designers who wish to design instruction for effective and efficient IPS. It attempts to overcome shortcomings of previous research and focuses on the application of IPS skills in ecologically valid and realistic settings, making use of authentic learning tasks that require integration of the skills, knowledge, and attitudes necessary for effective and efficient IPS. In addition, the instructional interventions presented incorporate measurements of transfer or delayed learning effects. Study 1 investigates effects of built-in task support (e.g., completion tasks, emphasis manipulation) on the acquisition of IPS skills. Study 2 focuses on effects of a modeling example, while Study 3 discusses an integrated training design where IPS instruction is embedded in a domain-specific educational program. The final study dives deeper into general characteristics of students’ IPS process, and how student, query, and source characteristics predict the selection of relevant and trustworthy sources.

Successful training of air traffic controllers includes both the development of domain specific competences (e.g., visual problem solving skills) and the acquisition of self-regulation skills. The aim of this dissertation is to increase understanding of the complexity of the ATC domain (i.e., specifically visual problem solving) and to design and test a learning environment which integrates the development of self-regulation skills in the domain-specific training. To answer the aforementioned research questions, the studies presented in this dissertation take three approaches. The first approach focuses on the complexity of the ATC domain by elaborating on required visual expertise and specifically on the underlying visual problem solving strategies. The second approach focuses on self-regulation, and specifically on how SRL skills, SDL skills and self-efficacy mutually interact and what their importance is for successful ATC-training. The third approach focuses on a training design which integrates the development of the students’ regulation skills with the development of domain specific ATC-competences. The training design includes shared control in the environment between the system (i.e., the trainer and the environment) and the learner. In this third approach, a practical study is also presented which deals with the implications of parts of such training design on successful training in ATC and on the development of self-regulation skills. The four subsequent chapters aim at answering the four research questions, respectively. Chapter 2 presents a study which matches strategies for visual problem solving with performance of novices, intermediates and experts in the ATC-domain. Eye-tracking is used to investigate eye-movements of respondents at these three levels of expertise. The use of visual problem solving strategies such as means-end analysis, information reduction and chunking are mapped out for novices, intermediates and experts. Also the performance similarity between participants is investigated to gain insight in the influence of specific strategy use and expertise on the diversity of traffic conflict solutions found. The chapter discusses implications of differences of solution similarity and visual strategies for the use of eye-movement modeling examples in ATC training. Chapter 3 presents a study that investigates the regulation skills required to be a successful ATC student and how cognitions of different stakeholders differ as to these requirements. This chapter employs focus groups with three different groups of stakeholders (i.e., training designers, trainers/coaches, students) to determine those skills that must be trained when preparing students to learn throughout their ATC careers. The study sheds light on the learning characteristics required for successfully learning ATC. Moreover, the chapter provides insight in the mutual relation between two groups of regulation skills: self-regulated learning (SRL; Zimmerman, 1990) and self-directed learning (SDL; Knowles, 1975, Van Merriënboer & Sluijsmans, 2009) and takes into account the mediation of student engagement and self-efficacy on SRL and SDL. The differences between cognitions of successful training in ATC give insight how instructional designers, trainees and coaches differ. Chapter 4 presents a theoretical framework for combining the training of complex cognitive skills with the development of regulation skills. It is based on the premise that it is best to use shared control in the task selection process. This framework also deals with the paradox that a system that trains regulation skills also requires students to have already developed regulation skills (Corbalan, Van Merriënboer, & Kicken, 2010). Shared control in task selection aims at increasing the responsibility of learners for selecting their own learning tasks. This responsibility should activate the learners to think about their own learning challenges. By discussing both the system and the required attitude of coaches and students in such an environment, insight is gained with respect to the requirements for the elements (i.e., task database, portfolio) employed in it. A coaching protocol is also introduced to support the coaches in using the system’s elements to involve the students in their own learning process. Chapter 5 presents an empirical study testing the idea of training self-regulation skills in combination with domain-specific competences. The study is carried out in the everyday practice of ATC training. The chapter describes the design of learning tasks and the role of a development portfolio in such learning environments. The increase of learning in both domain-specific skills and self-regulation skills is measured. Finally, Chapter 6 discusses the overall conclusion that can be drawn from the thesis in light of training improvements in cognitively complex domains. The chapter than discusses the theoretical and practical implications of the studies and concludes with the limitations of the studies and with ideas for future research.Sponsorship: Knowledge & Development Centre, Mainport Schiphol

In this dissertation, the focus is on learning in workplace simulations and the quest toward self-regulation in vocational education. The main aim was to gain understanding in the kind of difficulties and success factors students and teachers experience in workplace simulations, identify and explore self-regulated actions and to seek ways to support students’ self-regulated learning skills in the instructional design and feedback. One theoretical article and 4 empirical studies were conducted and are described in detail.