Technical Training

Internet Links for finding information about computer based and instructor-led Technical Training.

Efficacy of Training

Traditionally, education has been thought of in terms of a school model. The teacher teaches and the students are expected to learn. Students are graded on a normal curve with some achieving high grades and others failing. The assumption is that the teaching is perfect and the only variable is the student's ability to learn. This model is known as Normative Referenced Instruction. The burden for learning is on the student rather than the instruction.

Industry requires that everyone achieve the level of success needed to perform the job. It is not economically feasible or legally advisable to fire every person who does not score well on a norm-referenced test. Rather, the objective is to provide instruction such that everyone can master the subject and the only variable is how long it takes each person to reach mastery. The assumption is that everyone can learn the subject and the burden in on the instructional materials rather than the students. This model of instruction is known as Criterion Referenced Instruction.

Today, industry and the military have adopted the Criterion Referenced Model where each person must reach a criterion of mastery but everyone does learn the material. Great emphasis is placed on the instructional material to achieve this result. Poor performance means that the instruction is not adequate. Because it is recognized that each person will take a different amount of time to reach criterion, industry has often adopted various forms of self-paced instruction. The idea is that people will not be constrained by the timing of a classroom or the pace of the slowest person in a group. This is also the reason why Instructional Design methodology is often focused on Criterion Referenced Instruction and self-paced materials.

Note that the typical online training is both Criterion Referenced and Self-Paced Instruction. Individual users works at their own pace until they do master the topic. This is considered one of the advantages of online training.

In many cases, instruction can make the difference in profitability or it can be a life or death matter as with aircraft training. In the high tech industry, it can mean faster time to learn a new technology, fewer errors when designing or manufacturing, and greater customer satisfaction when applied to service departments.

Our Role

Usernomics' Instructional Psychologists apply Instructional System Design (ISD) techniques to develop Technical Training for hardware and software. We develop training for a wide range of products from high tech to consumer products to aircraft.

Internet Links

As a service to our professional community, we are pleased to bring you a great starting place for locating information about Technical Training and Instructional Design. The following Internet Links are for topics in:

• Technical Training
• Instructional Design
• Computer-Based Training
• Multimedia Training

If you like this page, please link to us.

• AIT is a nonprofit organization. AIT is one of the largest providers of instructional TV programs in North America.
• ALT Programme at Lancaster University is a series of courses that can be taken online in cognitive psychology and instructional design. If you want to learn more about the field, this is the place to go.
• AskERIC is a great place to search for educational materials. They have lots of links to collections, databases, gophers, and serves as a clearing house for information. A must look site.
• CTI Home Page is a group that focuses on the Computers in Teaching Initiative in the UK. Their mission is to introduce computers to university teaching. They have a newsletter, courseware, online information, workshops, and will answer questions.
• Case Studies in Instructional Technology and Design - Multimedia cases allow novices and experts to explore issues and practice in instructional design offered by Mable Kinzie at the Curry School of Education, University of Virginia.
• Conference Announcements - Education is Jurgen Wagner's site to provide information in education. The conference announcements can also be seen in the newsgroup news.announce.conference. However, there are additional links to computer education, educational environments, pedagogics, and writing.
• Computer Supported Cooperative Work is a European Community funded project focused on cooperative systems (COMIC). They have links to Collaborative browsing of library databases (ARIADNE) and Virtual Reality and CSCW.
• Computers In Teaching and Learning (CITAL) covers everything related to the use of Communications and IT in the Teaching and Learning processes, and it is my goal to maintain a growing collection of information and sources.
• Documenting the Effects of Instructional Technology: A Fly-Over of Policy Questions by Dale Mann, Professor Teachers College, Columbia University.
• Ed Tech Virtual Library is a site sponsored by TECFA. They have so many links to valuable information, it is hard to list them all. They include search capabilities, journals, conferences, software, institutions, people, and more. Must see this one.
• EdWeb is a great place to hunt for on-line educational resources around the world.
• Glasgow University's Teaching and Learning Technology Program (TILT) focuses on computer assisted instruction and its use in effective teaching methods.
• Guidebook for Developing an Effective Instructional Technology Plan was released officially by the National Center for Technology Planning (NCTP) on June 11, 1996, Version 2 is now available now for downloading as an Adobe Acrobat file. The guidebook was prepared by students at Mississippi State University under the direction of Dr. Larry Anderson.
• HCI Bibliography is a complete list of HCI articles that are online. Another great resource by Gary Perlman.
• The IT Journal On-Line is produced by the students and faculty of the Instructional Technology Program at the University of Virginia. Articles address such topics such as copyright issues, virtual libraries, technology and education, research, project management and Web-based training.
• The Information Technology Training Initiative (ITTI) is sponsored by the University of Hull in the UK. This is a program for multimedia-based Information Technology training for the humanities. However, they have lots of authoring and multimedia resources.
• Instructional Design Bibliography was compiled by Carolyn Kotlas at the Institute for Academic Technology. This is a very good bibliography.
• Instructional Technology Global Resource Network has searchable publications, online tools, and news in IT.
• Instructional Technology sites on the WWW have links to many major IT sites. This is a meta site referencing you to many other web sites focused on Instructional Technology. Great links.
• INTERACT is a magazine oriented toward a European Platform for Interactive Learning. Lots of links to browse.
• INTRO Links is a great source of links to instructional technology resources. They have links to research, in situations, associations, etc.
• The Journal focuses on Assessing the Impact of Instructional Technology on Student Achievement by Lorraine Sherry, Shelley Billig, Daniel Jesse, and Deborah Watson-Acosta.
• The Learning Technology Dissemination Initiative is sponsored by the Scottish Higher Education Funding Council. They focus on a series of workshops where computer based learning might be appropriate.
• Lersus is a software product that allows creating interactive tutorials, computer training courses (CBT), and e-learning courses (WBT) according to the existing e-Learning standards. Lersus will make it easy to create descriptive interactive tutorials intended for e-learning via Internet, local area network, or by means of Learning Management System (LMS). It allows creating tests to check the knowledge and include them into the interactive materials.
• Mailbase Mailing List Service is a mailing list service in the UK. They have lists, documentation, searches, and training material. Might be worth a look.
• National Science Foundation (NSF) has links to all of the research projects, grants, programs, and publications that it funds.
• Open Directory Project has numerous links to articles and sites in Instructional Technology. They consider it the most comprehensive human edited directory of the Web, compiled by a vast global community of volunteer editors. The ODP powers core directory services for some the most popular portals and search engines on the Web. This is a must see list of links.
• Petersons Education Center is a search engine for educational resources at various institutions. A good place to search for education.
• Petersons Education Center is a search engine for educational resources at various institutions. A good place to search for education.
• Procounsel specializes in developing interpersonal and communications skills for people working in all types of organizations. They work in both the commercial and public sectors - notably in Education, Health, Social Services and Public Administration.
• Technology and Education Reform is Stanford Research Institute's contribution to the use of technology to support education reform. No links but worth looking.
• Theoretical Sources at the University of Colorado at Denver School of Education contains Instructional Design Models Bridging theory and practice with focus on technical and social factors. Lots of articles, references, and links.
• Training and Seminar Locators (TASL) is a locator for training programs and seminars offered by various companies.
• University of Colorado has links to a wide variety of educational resources. They have links to such topics as Theory & Philosophy, Research Connections, Electronic Journals, Educational Resources, Professional Organizations, and much more.
• The World-Wide Web Virtual Library: Education is a search that has been done specifically on education. There are links to a wide range of training topics.
• Yahoo - Education: Instructional Technology and Training is a specific search of Yahoo specifically for Instructional Technology and Training. This is an excellent list and will save you lots of time.

Online Journals

• Australian Journal of Educational Technology is a refereed journal publishing research and review articles in educational technology, instructional design, educational applications of computer technologies, educational telecommunications, and related areas.
• CMC Magazine presents news, opinions and perspectives about the state and direction of Computer Mediated Communication.
• Cause/Effect is a practitioner's journal about managing and using information resources on college and university campuses.
• Classroom Compass is a collection of ideas and resources for teachers of science and math.
• Comparative Education Review is a journal of book reviews edited by John Hawkins.
• Chronicle of Higher Education is a great monthly chronicle of everything associated with education.
• Education Policy Analysis Archives addresses education policies from scholarly perspectives.
• Educational Theory on the Web - is the John Dewey Society and Philosophy of Education Society.
• Educom Review monitors developments in computer and communications technology with a focus on management, planning, law and policy.
• First Monday is a peer-reviewed journal on the Internet offering a critical analysis of the Internet.
• From Now On contains Internet strategies, issues and policies related to public education.
• The Genetic Epistemologist is The Journal of the Jean Piaget Society studies.
• The Information Society (TIS) Journal is a critical forum for concepts and ideas related to information technology.
• Informing Science has articles focusing on the use of information technology drawing from varied disciplines including engineering, computer science, education, psychology, business, and anthropology.
• Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication reports on processes in communication networks, issues of privacy, economics and access raised by information infrastructure.
• Journal of Data Mining and Knowledge Discovery is a peer-reviewed journal focusing on knowledge extraction techniques within complex database environments.
• Journal of Electronic Publishing includes articles concerning theory, policy and practice of writing in an electronic medium.
• Journal of Interactive Learning Research contains papers related to the underlying theory, design, implementation, effectiveness, and impact on education and training.
• The Journal of Technology Education focuses on research, theory, philosophy and practice of teaching technology.
• Journal of Vocational and Technical Education
• The Network Observer looks at issues related to human encounters with and within networked environments.
• NetWorking is a biweekly bulletin covering activities and developments in distance education and learning technologies.
• Philosophy of Education Yearbook has annual collections of some of the best work in the field of Educational Philosophy.
• Philosophy and Technology is a Quarterly Online Journal having a unifying focus on technology but from multiple perspectives and multiple disciplines using the analytical structure of philosophy.
• Postmodern Culture is an Electronic Journal of Interdisciplinary Criticism.
• Psycoloquy is a refereed journal of the American Psychological Association, includes a number of articles on the mind and cognition.
• Rethinking Schools online is an urban educational journal teaching our children about media, advertising, and the consumer culture.
• Review of Educational Research contains AERA abstracts of critical integrative reviews of research literature bearing on education.
• Syllabus Web focuses on enhancing uses of technology in education.
• TOCHI - ACM Transactions on Computer Human Interaction covers software, hardware and human factors.
• Technology Review is M.I.T.'s National Magazine of Technology and Policy.
• Technology Source has articles focused on integrating information technology tools in teaching and in managing educational organizations.

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