An Experimental System for Research on Dynamic Skills Training.

Abstract : Academic research on computer based instruction (CBI) has dealt largely with CBI of knowledge systems, coherent bodies of essentially propositional knowledge. Little research has been performed on techniques for effective CBI of dynamic skills, those amalgams of perceptual, motor, and decision-making skills that are required by many real-time event-driven tasks. The demands of dynamic skill training on student processing resources are different from those of knowledge system teaching. These differences suggest that the techniques found to be effective in conventional CBI may not be applicable to dynamic skill training CBI. Two classes of research issues to be explored are techniques for presentation of simulation practice and methods for providing effective instructional feedback. A microcomputer-based experimental simulation training system for research on dynamic skill training is described. Experimental subjects are taught to perform a simulation task based on the job of an air intercept controller. The training program permits controlled differences in instructional treatment for different groups of students, in order to explore empirical issues in dynamic skill training. (Author)