This study examines how the process of skill retention (including both recall and reconstruction) can benefit from systemic training information that covers several structural, functional, physical (e.g., causal links), and supervisory features (e.g., system control and instrumentation). An experiment was carried out in which a group of participants who received systemic information was compared to a group trained in plant theory and to another three groups trained in heuristics that ranged in terms of high-and low-level diagnostic information. Learning curves revealed that all groups achieved high accuracy scores in diagnosing faults in a distillation plant. Six weeks later, a retention test showed that the systemic group (S) had a better recall score than the groups trained in theory (T) and high-level heuristics (HH). In addition, the S group had a better reconstruction score than the groups receiving the high-and low-level heuristics (Hϩ) and the low-level diagnostic information (HL). An interesting finding was that high-level diagnostic information seemed to support the reconstruction phase of the retention process, whereas low-level information better supported the recall phase. Overall, it appeared that systemic information enabled trainees to acquire task cues to help recall and reconstruct diagnostic heuristics.

No abstract

No abstract

Forcing operators to comply to a training method may increase workload in remembering instructions and deny opportunities for exploiting other strategies. A means for increasing learning flexibility would be to manipulate the design of the user interface in ways that prompt trainees to recall past instructions or develop their own strategies. An experimental study is described that manipulates the ratio of visible instructions on the interface to the expository (or verbal) instructions. A new interface has been tested that presented several “tale-tell” signs to help trainees discover diagnostic rules. A group of subjects T(new), that used the new interface, became more accurate in fault-diagnosis than another group T(old) that practised on a conventional panel; both groups were provided with the same technical story. On transfer to two other tasks, the T(new) group maintained a better performance to the T(old) group, but only for a subset of the fault scenarios; superior performance was also observed in relation to a third group trained in heuristics. Finally, the new interface enabled the T(new) group to achieve equivalent performance to a fourth group that received both a technical story and a set of heuristics but used the conventional panel.

This study explores how information technology can be used as a training medium in the acquisition and retention of fault-finding skills. Instructions on strategies were made visible on the user interface by presenting trainees with a set of telltale signs derived from diagnostic heuristics. The objective was to map a diagnostic strategy into the appearance and dynamic behavior of a graphical display. A group of participants T(new) was trained in using the new interface, and verbal instructions (e.g., plant theory) were provided to guide discovery of diagnostic rules. A second group T(old) received the same plant theory but practiced on a conventional interface, whereas a third group T + H was trained to apply a set of heuristics with the support of plant theory. The new interface helped the T(new) group to achieve higher accuracy scores than all other groups in acquiring fault-finding skills. A retention test, 6 weeks later, showed that the T(new) group retained their skills better than the T(old) group. The T(new) group was also better than the T + H group, but not significantly so, in terms of reconstructing faults encountered in the past and solving faults that had never been encountered before. The implications of this study are that making a diagnostic strategy visible reduces the workload in remembering diagnostic heuristics, encourages discovery of new heuristics, and allows trainees to impose their own organization of knowledge. These learning mechanisms may provide a better basis for training in the acquisition and retention of diagnostic skills.