Computer-Based Procedural Training

Low-fidelity part-task trainers have become well accepted in aviation training programs over the past 25 years. It is generally believed that they provide effective (and possibly, superior) instruction at greatly lower cost. Studies on this family of devices have suggested that their effectiveness lies in their faithful adherence to psychological demands of the task and that the physical fidelity of these devices is of secondary importance. Ideally, a part-task trainer will permit systematic interaction between the student and the device, will provide appropriate feedback, and will automatically score student performance. The potential for inexpensive computers to provide these features economically has not been fully exploited within the aviation industry. The training effectiveness of a procedures trainer manufactured from full-scale computer-drawn artwork with touch points for each switch, light, gauge, or control, was studied in this research. Three experiments were conducted with the device using flight-naive college students. The data show that imposition of rigid order on procedural tasks aids learning, that practice on the procedures trainer helps to impose this order, and that procedural skills learned with the system do transfer to the airplane.