A study was undertaken to explore whether students using an advance organizer-metacognitive learning strategy would be less anxious, more self-directing, more efficient, and more self-confident when learning unknown computer applications software than students using traditional computer software learning strategies. The first experiment was conducted with 164 students (average age 22) from a freshman orientation course which included a 1-hour word-processing applications software instructional component. The second experiment was conducted with 76 students (average age 33) from an introduction to computer course which included introductory presentations on three software applications types. Scores were gathered on each of four variables from two experiments which differed in the amount of time dedicated to exposure to the software strategies. Results indicate that the advance organizer-metacognitive learning strategy is somewhat more effective in improving student performance than traditional learning strategies, but the use of the learning strategy is only marginally more effective in improving students' self-concept of their capabilities to learn software than traditional learning strategies. Appendices include the teacher presentation outline; student notes for WordPerfect 5.1 (DOS); self-reporting 1-minute typing measure; the word-processing exercises and student computer exercise forms from both experiments; and the postcourse survey. (Contains 154 references.) (Author/AEF)