晴过雨天Proceedings of the IEEE International Conference on Advanced Learning Techniques (ICALT’01) 0-7695-1013-2/01 $10.00 © 2001 IEEE
The development and implementation of new advanced learning technologies is an important achievement in all levels of education and in business and industry. However, the benefits of advanced learning technologies are often not fully realized until human f
The following opinions were chosen by raters to be human factors issues in each of the sub-categories.The top two opinions are presented.
Category One(Learners):
Needs for using ALTs:
a.Problems with interaction of ALT infrastructure
requirements and home or office equipment(that could no be solved by learners).
b.The need for flexible time and alternate location for
study.
Skill requirements for using ALTs:
a.Time required to learn new updates on existing ALT
systems
b.Time required to learn new software applications
required by ALT delivery systems.
Support for problems with ALTs:
a.Faculty lacking in support skills
b.Help desk type support not always prepared for ALT
users.
Motivation to continue using ALTs:
a.Personal life issues interfering with ALT use.
b.Demand on home or office system competing with
ALT needs.
Category two(Faculty/instructors):
Perception/attitude regarding ALT:
a.A view that ALT provides a second rate system
compared to classroom teaching.
b.A view that time to prepare and use ALT far out-
weighed its benefits.
Skills in using ALT:
a.Time to mastery of skills unacceptable.
b.Changing requirements of systems require continuous
learning of new skills.
Support for problems using ALT:
a.Technical support varied and non-available for some
systems(i.e.PC versus Mac users,depending upon institutional policy and/or support systems.
b.Technical support availability for student related issues
(compatibility of word processing systems,etc.). Motivation to continue using ALT:
a.Changing ALT requirements and infrastructure
changed motivation to continued use.
b.Frequently changing content impacted use of some
systems over time.
Category three(Technical staff):
Methods of supporting students and faculty:
a.Not able to provide assistance on all software packages
used by students or required in courses.
b.Difficulty with discussing problems with users while
running ALT systems simultaneously.
Availability of staff to all users:
a.Limited help desk or support times(weekends and
evenings)
b.In-experienced support personnel or turn-around of
staff.
Range of support services:a.Limited to institutionally supported systems not
representative of all users.
b.Not often focused on individual needs.
4.Discussion
The results of this analysis indicate that human factors are inter-related to technical issues for all categories of human interaction with ALT.The direct relationship of ALT to human learning is not clear form these results. However,what is clear is that several enabling factors related to both human factor issues and ALT issues do impact learning.In other words,learning cannot take place unless certain factors are in place and under control.The delivery truck model(1,2)may not be the best way to describe the impact of ALT,but it is also not clear that ALT alone impacts learning directly(3).
Concepts of motivation,available time,and support systems are critical to the use of ALT for all categories of users.Without these enabling factors,combined with proper equipment and user-friendly software and application programs,ALT do not meet learner or faculty needs and handicap technical assistance.
The institutional programs that provided information for this study use a wide range of ALT in course and program delivery.However,it is also clear that faculty and technical staff interact with these technologies prior to the delivery of instruction(e.g.instructional design stages,instructional preparation,and evaluation tasks).Learning is taking place at these levels,especially when new or inexperienced faculty become involved in ALT programs and courses. Finally,an overall evaluation of the information in this study suggests that all the forms of ALT used by institutions included here work.However,there were problems in all cases,although many were overcome on an individual or small group basis.To assume any one ALT or ALT product is capable of overcoming all problems is naïve.Human factors will always play a part in the success of ALT and the more programs and institutions understand these issues the better they will be in preparing for future development and technological change.
5.References
(1)C.Mellon,Technology and the great pendulum of education, Journal of research on Computing in Education,1999,32(1),28-36.
(2)R.Clark,Reconsidering research on learning from media. Review of Educational Research,1983,53(4),445-459.
