An interaction of screen colour and lesson task in CAL © British Educational Communications and Technology Agency, 2004. Published by Blackwell Publishing Ltd., 9600 Garsington Road, Oxford OX4 2DQ, UK and 350 Main Street, Malden, MA 02148, USA. Roy B. Clariana Address for correspondence: Roy B. Clariana, Penn State Great Valley, 30 E Swedesford Road, Malvern, PA 19355; email: RClariana@psu.edu British Journal of Educational Technology Vol 35 No 1 2004 35–43 Abstract Colour is a common feature in computer-aided learning (CAL), though the instructional effects of screen colour are not well understood. This investiga- tion considers the effects of different CAL study tasks with feedback on posttest performance and on posttest memory of the lesson colour scheme. Graduate students (n = 68) completed a computer-based vocabulary lesson that included either multiple-choice or constructed-response study tasks with feedback. Each lesson section used a different colour theme, while the posttest did not use colour. The constructed-response study task was a little more effective for posttest memory of lesson content but was substantially less effective for posttest memory of the lesson colour scheme. These results show a clear inter- action of screen colour and lesson study task, a memory-context effect. The practical and theoretical implications of these findings are discussed. Today many web- and computer-based screens are designed with a distinctively coloured left column for navigation and orientation, and a wide right column that is usually light-coloured or white and contains the body of the information for that screen. This colour scheme may be merely decorative, but sometimes indicates related sections of the web site (Voithofer, 1997). Referring to print-based design Misanchuk (1992, 115) states, “This kind of colour coding is done on the presumption that it helps orient learners to the tasks at hand, but apparently no research has actually been done regarding its effectiveness for that purpose”. As with print-based design, there is little research regarding this common use of colour as an orienting component in CAL, thus pointing to the need for more research in the area of screen colour. Colour is a common surface-level context variable commonly used in instruction (Pett and Wilson, 1996). Screen colour and lesson content co-occur during the learn- ing event, and colour may or may not be incorporated into the memory traces of that episode (Elio and Reutener, 1978; Tulving and Thomson, 1973). Thus a contex- tual element like colour may or may not be directly related to the lesson content,