The effect of instructional design supported by real-time information on students’ academic achievement and perceived learning

The aim of this study is to examine the effect of an instructional design supported by pre-prepared digital information cards containing the lesson’s core learning outcomes, key concepts and critical explanations, presented immediately following the teacher’s explanation on the academic achievement and perceived learning levels of secondary school students. The research was conducted using a pre-test/post-test controlled experimental design. The study group comprised a total of thiry-six secondary school students, with eighteen students in each of the experimental and control groups. In both groups, lessons were delivered by the same teacher using traditional oral instruction; in the experimental group, real-time digital information cards were used in addition to this instruction. Academic achievement was assessed using pre-tests and post-tests based on the same learning outcomes; perceived learning was assessed using a seven-item form adapted from a scale originally developed for university students to the secondary school level, which has shown initial evidence of validity regarding its unidimensional structure and exhibits high internal consistency. Data analysis utilised the Mann-Whitney U Test, the Wilcoxon Signed-Rank Test, the Independent Samples T-Test and Spearman’s Rank Correlation. The findings show that post-test scores were significantly higher than pre-test scores in both the experimental and control groups. However, no significant difference was found between the groups’ post-test and achievement scores. In contrast, the experimental group’s perceived learning scores were found to be significantly higher than those of the control group, and the difference was determined to have a large effect size. No significant relationship was found between the academic achievement indicators and perceived learning in either group. The results show that there was no significant difference between the two classes examined in terms of short-term academic achievement and learning gains. However, the perceived learning scores were higher in the class where teaching supported by digital flashcards was implemented. Due to the classroom-based nature of the study and differences in teaching durations, these results should not be interpreted as the independent effect of digital flashcards. Future research is recommended to integrate flashcards with active recall, student responses and feedback, and to re-examine their effects using larger samples, long-term implementations and delayed retention tests.