TARGETING COMPUTER TRAINING: IMPROVINGLEARNING BY MORE EFFECTIVELY ADAPTINGTRAINING TO MEET USER NEEDS

摘要

Training is an important means by which corporate staff and management can learn computing skills and gainrnknowledge in new technologies. However, despite the myriad of training methods and options which arernavailable, frequently training does not achieve its desired result. While some of this may be due to individualrndifferences or the ability for a particular subject to learn, the type of training/help can also play an importantrnpart. The role of three different forms of training (offline, online, visual online) in promoting or hinderingrnlearning was the focus of this empirical study, and the results varied by skill level: novices learned best withrnthe offline manual, and worst with the visual online. Experienced users, on the other hand, learned best withrnonline training and the worst with visual online. Also of significance is the finding that while experienced usersrnhave reasonably good perceptions of what kinds of training best contribute to their own learning, novices arernlargely erroneous in their perceptions. This may cause novices to choose training methods which are minimallyrnuseful, or possibly detrimental, in their quest to learn a new programming language. By better targeting thernright form of training to a certain level of user, the effectiveness of training can increase, resulting in higherrnlevels of productivity and efficiency.