Suchergebnisse

A rapid intelligent tutoring development system ( RAPIDS) was developed to facilitate the production of interactive, real-time graphical device models for use in instructing the operation and maintenance of complex systems. The tools allowed subject matter experts to produce device models by creating instances of previously defined objects and positioning them in the emerging device model. These simulation authoring functions, as well as those associated with demonstrating procedures and functional effects on the completed model, required no previous programming experience or use of frame-based instructional languages. Three large simulations were developed in RAPIDS, each involving more than a dozen screen-sized sections. Seven small, single-view applications were developed to explore the range of applicability. Three workshops were conducted to train others in the use of the authoring tools. Participants learned to employ the authoring tools in three to four days and were able to produce small working device models on the fifth day.

A method for using a computer time-sharing system to assist the learning of serial tasks, from operating equipment to troubleshooting it, is described. The method is based on mediational theory. The current resurgence of interest in mediational theory in psychological research is noted, and parallels between experimental strategies and instructional strategies for evoking and manipulating mediating processes are pointed out. Categories of processes which mediate performance of serial tasks are described. Procedures for facilitating the learning of these processes are implemented by a computer program, called TASKTEACH. The program sustains the student's performance of complex serial tasks by giving him variable amounts of support while helping him learn and organize the processes which mediate his performance of these tasks. The program generates output to the student during the learning session by processing short lists and the prior responses of the student. The lists, which are input to the program replace the conventional frame-by-frame description of an instructional sequence written in a "CAI language."

Three computer-based techniques for analyzing and simulating serial-action tasks are described. The first, called BETS, measured the efficiency, in terms of expected information, of tests made by technicians who were troubleshooting malfunctioning electronic circuits. It computed efficiency ratios for a technician's test sequences in comparison to optimal sequences. The second method, ARMAN, generated detailed time-and-motion analyses from gross descriptions of serial-action tasks and man-machine interfaces and computed the time costs of these tasks. The third technique incorporates a general model of the action-goal structure of serial-action work. It operates on this structure with special functions composed in a symbol manipulation language. This program, called TASKSYM, can generate all alternative correct ways to accomplish serial-action work and can track a subject through the performance of this work. The model includes an anti-goal structure which identifies action sequences leading to catastrophic error, e.g., electrical damage to the equipment or shock hazard to the performer. An extension of the program to computer-aided instruction is described.