
  NEW  APPROACHES  TO  COMPUTER  ASSISTED  TRAINING


  Part II  of  a  WindoWatch  Series.     (c) 1994  by Jerome Laulicht

  The  Training  Dilemma: Teaching People How To Use Computers

  Our public school system does not have a monopoly on educational
  problems nor are children the only students being short-changed!
  Desktop computers have been a mixed blessing because of the many
  difficulties in teaching people to use them at all or begin to use
  them at all well.  We cant be satisfied with the notion that learning
  to use computers is merely playing games,  typing letters or entering
  data correctly. For tasks like data entry or production typing, quick
  and dirty training is possible and friendly interfaces are desirable.
  The simple and rather unfriendly truth is that "user friendly" is an
  advertising slogan for a vaguely defined objective, with an elusive
  meaning and easily changed goals. Many companies advertise that it is
  easy to navigate the Internet and while doing so accomplish great
  things---if  you would only be so wise as to use their product.

  There are many people who have the need to use complex programs in rather
  sophisticated ways but have  little or no access to training experts
  on site.  It does little good to marvel at how quickly some people,
  particularly children, can learn to play Nintendo and other computer
  games. Obviously, whatever skills are learned with games, there is
  limited carry-over to doing other computer tasks. Game developers have
  discovered that they can deliberately give little help and make
  learning a challenging part of the entertainment.  No  developer of a
  program for real work would want to do this notwithstanding that
  instructions, both the on-line help and in the manual,  are too often
  written as if  users are being dared to decipher some sort of secret
  code!  The worn out Unix mantra is RTFM  which provides little help if
  one's Jack Armstrong secret ring decoder is on the blink.

  Some people have coped with this situation fairly well probably
  because others have provided alternatives.  However, what there is of
  computer education has been riddled with stumbles and lost chances.
  Many software companies have played down these difficulties with their
  insistence, vital from their perspective,  that their programs are
  easier to learn and come with oodles of help.  Those who see the
  problem as real and pervasive are partly dismissed as having a stake
  in making the learning issue seem overly complex.  In any case, these
  arguments appear in magazines which few computer users ever see. Part
  of the problem is simple.  Adults with limited education about
  computers have had to learn skills and concepts which have been
  defined as vital for their jobs and economic well-being.

  Using a computer has its full share of frustration and people do resent
  the time spent and the difficulties encountered in learning how to use
  a new program. The resulting pressure for better information has meant
  that the simpler programs now often come with help adequate enough to
  learn by doing.  This improvement is due in no small measure to the Help
  Engine provided with Windows, made even better with one of the many
  add-on programs, and the rapidly growing use of common Windows
  program interface features.  The more complex programs, however,
  still leave many of us floundering when we want to take advantage of
  one of the more complex or less-used features. The amount of
  information can be overwhelming and the on-line help files can often
  be even drier and more boring than those textbooks we dearly loved.
  Hypertext jumps are jazzy but theyre only useful as technical aids
  and to navigate through a document.

  Help engines and API's do not write the words we see on the screen or
  construct the tutorials which will have us flying within a few
  hours. The standard and usual approach  has not been enough, certainly
  not for the unschooled. Important elements are missing from
  the perspective of many who are critical of how we too often go about
  teaching.  In learning computer programs, where is the fun in both
  teaching and learning which make it more gratifying and more likely to
  succeed? Where are the multiple methods  of communication?  Where is
  the needed interaction among the learners and between learner and
  teacher?

  The alternatives available to teach or learn how to use software are
  quite limited. The StarTrek solution of just telling the darn thing
  what to do and it will do it is not imminent. We can read words; look
  at graphics and animations; watch and hear about the actions of a
  disembodied mouse on a captured set of screens;  look at more
  movie-like films on the VCR or even our monitor; listen to teachers
  and cassettes; or learn by doing and by trial and error.   No way
  offers guaranteed results for all of us even though many of us manage
  somehow to discover our preferred way to learn.  Relying on the normal
  combo of on-line help, trial and error and,  if all else fails, the
  manual in the box and whoever we can find to ask questions does
  work...sometimes!  The cost in time and struggle is unpredictable, and
  the quality of the result too often depends on keeping  our criteria
  for success low enough to justify our claims.   For complex programs,
  people often add the step of giving up on the manual and finding a
  book which explains the manual. My favorites are those with titles
  like "X for Dummies"--both Alice and I refuse to buy them on
  principle--and those books which tell all in much less than half the
  official manual's length.  I am enchanted by the authors' chutzpah!

  Normal people, not teachers, who appear knowing are attractive
  alternatives to yet another book. They can be readily available, teach
  for free, commiserate with us, and may actually show us how to do some
  things.  They also may not have enough time and get impatient or
  emotional with us. Even worse, they may know little more than we do
  and give wrong information, or not know much about how to teach....a
  common but excusable failing.  It can also be a failing of authors of
  program manuals, programmers who provide on-line help,  even authors
  of those replacement books we buy with such hope and finally--even
  people who conduct classes.

  When knowledge is critically important, it makes sense to search for
  alternative methods and ways of finding teachers.  Audio cassettes,
  films and lately even multimedia tutorials have been devised and sold
  in the hunt for new possibilities. Its no secret that one of the main
  obstacles to effective and creative use of computers is not simply
  teaching people how to use them well but teaching teachers the skills
  to communicate the complexity of the subject using easily understood
  language. It is for these reasons that this article focuses on
  computer tutorial  programs which  are available on CD-ROM.

  PERSONAL TRAINING SYSTEMS (PTS)

  Personal Training Systems has a track record as a creator and seller
  of tutorials on audio cassettes.  They have involved  Peter Norton, a
  well regarded writer of books on computers, in their efforts.
  Recently, they completed a CD-ROM tutorial on Microsofts  Office for
  Professionals--Version 4.3. They also offer CD-ROM tutorials on
  PageMaker, Excel, Word for Windows, Access and Windows 3.1.  Since
  Office is in fact four complex programs which are partially linked,
  the effort is ambitious.  It is no mean feat to teach people the use
  of  a full fledged word processor, spreadsheet,  data base and
  presentation program in one sweep--even if you restrict it only to
  lessons for beginners.  A number of assumptions and decisions have to
  be made.  Some examples: (1) what features to include or omit from
  each lesson; (2) how slowly should the teacher speak (not a trivial
  concern); and (3) should  you assume the ready availability of a
  teacher or at a minimum a mentor?

  I got a clearer sense of  their problems and assumptions when I saw that
  (1) basic lessons on Windows were included with the Office tutorial but
  (2) then it was assumed that these instructions were not learned well or
  would be skipped even by many  people who needed them.  This is the hoary
  and familiar pre-requisite headache in high schools and colleges.  The
  stark reality for Personal Training Systems and others--not a
  criticism-- is that no-one could learn to use these complex programs
  without being first being quite easy with Windows.  I would not have
  expected anyone to design a single set of beginning lessons intended
  for both Windows beginners and sophisticates for fear they would
  satisfy neither group. Perhaps I was naive.

  The message to inexperienced learners is: if you learn the rudiments
  of working with Windows, you can jump right into a set of powerful
  programs. The message to the computer schooled is to patiently bear
  with the simple and familiar stuff on Windows.   This approach  is
  somewhat self-defeating since no-one is going to be very happy with
  the inevitable compromises. I am even more convinced of this after
  going through the tutorials.  This mixing of audiences is typical in
  the earlier grades in school but to do this with learning programs for
  adults and older students goes too far. Yet this mix is also commonly
  done in computer classes sponsored by public high schools and even
  colleges.  However, the tutorial teachers sensibly hedge their bets by
  assuming ignorance rather than knowledge. They frequently give quick
  basic instruction in elementary Windows moves  in the midst of
  teaching the applications. Inevitably these instructions must be
  repeated almost word for word as needed. People who know Windows need
  only be told to move a specific window. It is rather surprising to
  hear how many words must be said about this action to give clear
  instructions certain to be understood by someone struggling to learn.
  There is no apparent way of avoiding these instructions, except
  perhaps by fast forwarding? Much of the tutorial is like an audio
  cassette on a CD-ROM so you have controls which act like those on a
  tape player.

  Analogous compromises surely had to be made about many other parts of the
  tutorials on the four applications.  I presume that the choices again
  assumed sharp limits of knowledge among many users.  You would have to
  expect that the beginner will have no tolerance for omissions,  while
  the more experienced person would  tolerate repetition.  The choice of
  beginner topics, for example, were likely defined largely in terms of
  people who have hardly used any word processor or spreadsheet before.
  Don't misunderstand me--I know this can work if you do not ask
  awkward questions about boredom and frustration.  However, we do not
  have to perpetuate the questionable education traditions of the past
  nor do CD-ROM lessons have to be like frustrating classroom sessions
  often seen as  too fast or too slow.

  Good practical reasons like costs, earnings and likely sales must be the
  logic for teachers rejecting the more sensible approach of at least two
  versions which rely on differences in capacities and  knowledge base. As
  in a computer classroom, they then make assumptions about how to make the
  best of a flawed scene.  Since there are alternatives to the way they
  set up the tutorial, I suspect there might also be other less obvious
  reasons.

  The better classroom teachers do manage to partly compensate for the
  one-for-all approach. Since only a handful of teachers are employed by
  companies like Personal Training Systems, they can choose from among
  the best, thus bypassing  a major headache of more conventional
  education. There is no compelling reason for these tutorials to obey
  the flawed character of the classroom model unless the economics are
  compelling. It is possible to allow for interactive choices which go much
  beyond giving the user the option to skip sections, especially if a
  CD-ROM is being used.  Even if the medium is a VCR film or the cassette
  Personal Training Systems has standardly used, there are options. In
  fairness, though, we might be running into the higher costs of
  providing options versus the sales potential for such tutorials.

  I want to emphasize that this tutorial, given the choices, is not
  bad or even mediocre. Much of it is quite good!  It is clear as it
  takes you through many of the necessary steps. The teacher clearly
  knows her subject and what she is about.  I even learned about  useful
  options in programs I know well. I got a clearer indication of the
  quality of the tutorial when I moved to programs with which I was
  barely familiar.  Clearly, I was getting an excellent introduction
  not only to PowerPoint but to similar programs which enable you to
  create presentations.  I  quickly and clearly saw that something I
  had vaguely thought to be beyond my capacities and interests could be
  learned and used. I am not being critical then of beginning lessons as
  such and realize that facile and creative use of PowerPoint would
  clearly demand more learning time and experience.

  While doing the tutorials, my biggest problems were: (1) a growing
  impatience with the inability to skip the repetition of points common
  to Windows programs; (2) being reminded that I had not installed all
  the Office graphics files where the program assumes them to be;  and
  (3) finding some of those tiny toolbar icons quickly enough from the
  teacher's verbal description. A small point perhaps, but  I often had
  to pause the tutorial--a somewhat awkward procedure when you have
  minimized the audio control window, as you must do, in order to have
  the screen largely available for the application itself.  The real gap
  is the almost complete lack of any graphics on this CD-ROM, the inability
  to get visual help from either photos or animations. I know that they
  intend to change this in the new version of this tutorial due in the
  Spring but I do not know the directions they will take and how well
  they will capitalize on the strengths of a CD-ROM.  They did use
  simple graphics in the Windows tutorial, screen captures of  how tasks
  and commands are done with the mouse, and plan to make more use of
  this technique. Their approach works well within the boundaries they
  established but the limits are unnecessarily narrow given the
  complexity of the programs, the varied needs of their clients, and the
  option of anyone to skip any lesson they do not need.

  The structure of the approach is straight-forward, simple and useful. You
  can have the application operational, hear the instructions at your pace,
  learn mostly from being told what to do and then do it.  You can
  easily repeat any part of any lesson--or the whole section--as often
  as you want, repeating your error until you finally catch on. You go
  through the tutorial largely at your own speed; pause and restart at
  any point; go back to any of the sections at any time for a refresher
  or skip around at will. I  have to caution that my work has
  necessarily made me a quick learner in many areas in the process of
  evaluating tools as decent learning devices for young adults who are
  aiming for a variety of professions. This has provided me with
  experiences and biases that may not be the best for determining the
  value of this tool for other kinds of people.  Reliable evaluations
  of the pros and cons of the tutorials for any  intended audience are
  only possible with an actual trial with real learners. This would have
  to include observations, interviews and discussions with the users. In
  effect, this means doing a relevant and useful Beta test. The cost,
  complexity and tricky nature of such evaluations  explain why these
  tutorials are seldom evaluated very thoroughly.  Instead, we depend on
  word-of- mouth, names, endorsements, and personalized judgments.
  However, the situation is just about the same if we look at the more
  conventional ways of teaching computer programs. We do not demand nor
  are we accustomed to looking at these issues as carefully as is done
  by so many magazines for computer software and hardware.  A somewhat
  curious state of affairs given our collective search for better public
  education and the projections of great growth in the use of
  computers.

  My most serious criticism is that these tutorials rarely explain anything;
  rather, they show you what to do. They take you through the steps making
  sure you know about the existence of most of the commands available in the
  menus and through toolbar icons by using quick assertions--so fast and
  terse that they will be hard to remember or understand.  It's as
  though people taking beginning lessons are not supposed to be
  interested in understanding as opposed to just learning how to do
  things. Perhaps it is assumed that employers who provide their
  employees with these tutorials want the trainers help not to waste
  time or money helping students to get insight?  The consequence
  remains that to stint on training costs can create unknown and
  negative prices to pay later.

  Yes, I want that new version.  Even better will be those CD-ROM tutorials
  which I know can be created and likely will be--rather soon. The new
  learning tools will aim for an audience of many skill levels so that it
  will give people the latitude to individualize their learning. One disk
  will meet a variety of needs and the learner can return to it after
  she has become competent enough with the program to be ready for more
  complexity.  Such developments depend upon potential purchasers,
  developers and users demanding and prepared to pay for more
  comprehensive and sophisticated tools. Already we use CD-ROMS for very
  elaborate multimedia encyclopedias and for convoluted  games and
  puzzles. We author and produce books which cover the complexities of
  programming languages and of major programs.  We can therefore do
  analogous things to enable more people to learn and use tools which
  are rapidly becoming critically important to their economic
  well-being.

  The alternative is to fall back on the over-optimistic fantasies of
  voice commands to Hal-like computers. It is of limited value to define
  beginning lessons so restrictively that it drastically limits a
  tutorials value.  Too much of the serious  tougher stuff can be
  easily omitted, left for self-teaching or for others to handle.  Too
  often this approach does not work very well.  Many people--granted,
  not the majority-- are trying to learn concepts and get knowledge
  about computers--more than just task skills.  Even those curious
  people with good learning talents or reasons for wanting to go from
  the how to the why, and who want to be able to do complex tasks, will
  get too limited help from tools focused only on beginners.  People do
  not get too many opportunities to learn and the time should not be
  thrown away on rote learning of rudimentary tasks.  Individual
  differences are a normal fact of life and one I hope the tutorial
  creators will heed.  Many employers, large and small, who could make
  good use of computer tutorials would prefer to use them to train
  professional and semi-professional employees,  not just entry level
  people who largely do data entry.

  The  Multimedia Tutorial on CD-ROM

  Why would an individual, small organization or school spend money for
  computer program tutorials on CD-ROM given the extra costs.   Are such
  tools cost-effective only for larger organizations with considerable
  turn-over? Training people quickly to use new software is a not an
  insignificant cost.

  There is probably only one good reason for even thinking of doing
  this--a feeling, belief or evidence that the manual and help files are
  simply not sufficient and that buying additional books will not
  suffice.   How can one sensibly cost out the original purchase and
  employee training time in these terms?

  Perhaps the real choice is between a classroom situation or working alone
  with a tutorial program--a disembodied teacher at your side.  Personal
  Training Systems describes their effort as the "best way to learn to
  use a program is to have an expert talk you through it..to be at your
  side."  The cost factor then favors computer assisted learning,
  especially when more than one person will use the tutorial.  There is
  a catch: tutorials of presumably high quality are available for only a
  handful of programs.  The classroom with a live teacher is still
  liable to win out in the face of uncertainty and ambiguity, primarily
  because its a familiar and safer choice. As a business, the whole
  idea looks like a loser except for three facts: (1) some companies
  have been successfully selling  learning tools;  (2) CD-ROMS seem to
  hold  promise beyond what books, audio cassettes and VCRs  offer; and
  (3) the major training costs are employee time rather than the
  differences in price between a book and a CD-ROM.

  Schools Using Tutorials

  Teachers of young adults and high school students usually want them to
  learn more than the basics. The better schools are painfully aware of
  the huge differences in motivation, readiness, and other factors
  affecting the ability to learn which make it so difficult to close
  knowledge gaps. These schools are a major potential market for
  companies like Personal Training Systems for both the basics and
  beyond. The MS Office tutorial, for example, makes it possible for
  many students--not all by any means--to get most of their instruction
  without a teacher, only someone available to answer questions. This
  should not be seen as a threat but as one of the better uses of a
  school computer lab. All kinds of schools have difficulty finding good
  teachers on the use of computers and programs.  Neither Departments of
  Education or Computer Science train people to do this competently nor,
  in fact, does anyone else. In truth, few schools even seek to hire
  such people. Yet computer literacy is becoming more vital and valued.
  It must include knowledge of an operating system, how to use the
  important general purpose programs, and finally, the increased ability
  and skill to learn additional programs, as needed, through self-study.
  This is a classic chicken-egg situation in which enterprising
  companies might find rewarding opportunities. There is the corporate
  market and an interesting and exciting potential in smaller commercial
  and non-profit enterprises.  Schools and libraries represent an almost
  untapped depository for training tools on content, teaching people to
  be computer trainers and for mentoring purposes.

  Tutorials, be they videos, cassettes or CD-ROMS, can also be useful
  to high schools, junior colleges and other colleges responsible for
  adult-education programs covering a wide range of topics using the
  computer as a tool for self study. The institutions offering these
  courses are effectively the only ones which can meet the computer
  education needs for many people,  but they do have some real
  dilemmas: (1) how to find local people for low paid part-time work who
  have both the needed knowledge of content and teaching skills; and (2)
  finding the means to purchase multiple copies of the tutorial and the
  associated program.  Efforts to teach people how to use  software
  could be much enhanced by the use of expert teachers  to produce
  tutorials which get wide distribution within a given system.  The
  local teacher could meet the vital needs of answering questions so
  people do not get hung up and giving  individualized  brief tutoring
  sessions as needed.  The important need in learning to use computers
  is doing and  trying while moving at a comfortable speed--which is not
  necessarily the group pace defined by a teacher.  The important skills
  for the teacher should be knowledge and ability to advise and consult,
  as opposed to lecturing skills and following a prescribed curriculum.

  Perhaps software companies need to strengthen their standards for site
  licensing to make multiple copies of  many of their programs more
  available to teaching institutions and their students at special
  rates.  This could be an important addition to software standards more
  commonly in use and would be a prudent economic and social investment.
  We must also rethink distribution of the tutorials themselves so that
  they are available at affordable prices for wide use in the education
  process. For example, could videos and CD-ROMS be made available to
  borrow from libraries and used in school computer labs equipped
  properly.  This would be an educationally useful extension of the
  computer lab now common in many American colleges and could make
  computer literacy a mainstream expectation and reality.

  How can smaller companies producing these tutorials be helped to
  improve their capacity to distribute their products at prices
  significantly lower than those offered to business?  These are not
  software giants. What would it take to arrange for sensible
  distribution of the applications and the tutorials, without loss to
  the companies and without special government subsidies, for the
  benefit of both young people in school and the many adults who need to
  learn these skills for better jobs?

  There are obviously many questions, a need for new practices and
  procedures, and a tradition not conducive to this kind of thinking.
  There are also solid opportunities for meaningful change to prepare
  people to qualify for employment where computer skills are required.
  Computer assisted learning with tutorials on CD-ROMS are not magic
  pills nor are they the only means to enable us to deal with some real
  social dilemmas.  Some years ago, a new company which has since become
  a major producer of both computers and software,  made a serious
  effort to get computers into schools at quite low cost.  Perhaps it is
  time for other computer companies and their experts to make the effort
  to effect serious change in the educational process for the use of
  computers.

  Personal Training for Office by Personal Training Systems retails at
  $90 for a single copy. The training cassettes retail for $37.00.  The
  street price for both of these items are somewhat less.  They will
  soon release a major upgrade for their CD-ROM  THE MICROSOFT OFFICE
  PROFESSIONAL  including training at various skill levels. They can be
  reached at 800-832-2499 for more information and orders.

  JERRY LAULICHT is professor emeritus from the University of Pittsburgh.




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