The Role of Effective Modeling in the Development of Self-Efficacy : The Case of the Transparent Engine

Computing technology augments learning in education in a number of ways. One particular method uses interactive programs to demonstrate complex concepts. The purpose of this paper is to examine one type of interactive learning technology, the transparent engine. The transparent engine allows instructors and students to view and directly interact with educational concepts such as web-enabled software development. The paper first presents a framework describing transparent engines. The framework details four types of transparent engines: (1) enactive mastery/manipulatable, (2) enactive mastery/non-manipulatable, (3) vicarious experience/manipulatable and (4) vicarious experience/non-manipulatable. Following this, we present the results of an experiment designed to examine this framework by testing its predictions for one quadrant, vicarious experience/non-manipulatable. The results support the framework that students taught concepts with the aid of the vicarious experience/non-manipulatable transparent engine had significantly higher domain-specific self-efficacy compared to those taught the same concepts without this tool