A training approach to the acquisition and retention of fault-finding skills: Making instructions "visible" on the interface

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.