Specifying Skill-Based Training Strategies and Devices: A Model Description

Abstract : This report describes the background and specifications of a model that identifies the skills required for competent performance of a job, specifies strategies for training those skills, defines training devices, and evaluates efficient use of skill-based training devices. The framework addresses three benefits of skill training: (1) skill training provides more practice on critical skills in a given amount of time, (2) critical skills generalize to many tasks, and (3) training the critical skills involved in complex and difficult tasks decreases the mental workload required to learn or perform the tasks. Both a formal model and a concrete example of the steps derived from that theoretical approach in the context of the Air Traffic Control job domain are described. The specification of training strategies and devices is broken into four steps: identifying skills, selecting instructional strategies designing devices, and allocating training. First, tasks are reduced to their elements to identify the general abilities and domain-specific skills required. Second, skills are grouped and sequenced for training. Third, device interface and instructor support requirements are derived for the target skills. Finally, the projected cost of task training is compared to task training supplemented by the proposed skill training.