A Comparison of Four Types of Feedback during Computer-Based Training (CBT)
Abstract
Navy personnel often have difficulty operating the state-of-the-art programmable equipment employed in radar systems, communication systems, and transportation systems. These types of devices tend to be designed without adequate consideration of the user interface. Computer-based training (CBT) systems have been developed to help users overcome difficulties associated with learning how to operate complex devices. An important capability of CBT is feedback that informs users about the correctness of their knowledge of device procedures. Current research in CBT provides little guidance as to when feedback should be provide and how to design feedback content. An experimental CBT lesson on how to operate a military phone system was administered to 80 Navy students. The lesson was presented individually on a microcomputer and consisted of an introduction, a practice, and performance test. During practice, each treatment group received one of four types of feedback. The computer provided feedback either immediately following an error or at the end of the button-pushing of the to-be-learned sequence. Feedback consisted of the correct response or a wrong indication. All the CBT treatment groups outperformed a no-treatment control group. The treatment group who received delayed feedback performed significantly better on the performance test than those who received immediate feedback. Delaying the feedback was beneficial during CBT because it aids in the development of a usable device schema.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Oct 01, 1991
- Accession Number
- ADA241626
Entities
People
- Michael Cowen