DEVELOPMENT OF A FUNCTIONAL-WORK-CONTEXT COURSE IN BASIC ELECTRICITY

TRAINING FOR MILITARY TECHNICIANS USUALLY BEGINS WITH AN ACADEMIC DISCOURSE ON THE BASIC CONCEPTS AND PHYSICAL LAWS OF ELECTRICITY. AN ALTERNATIVE TO THIS METHOD IS THE FUNCTIONAL-WORK-CONTEXT (FWC) APPROACH THAT CREATES AN INTERACTIVE WORK-LIKE SETTING FOR LEARNING. KINTON WILL DEVELOP AND PRODUCE AN FWC COURSE IN BASIC ELECTRICITY AND ASSESS THE QUALITY OF LEARNING ACHIEVED BY STUDENTS. THE OBJECTIVES OF THE DELIVERABLE WILL BE: 1) TO COMPARE FWC STUDENT PERFORMANCE TO THAT OF STUDENTS LEARNING ONLY WITH STANDARD COURSE MATERIALS;2) TO ENSURE THAT THE TIME REQUIRED BY STUDENTS TO LEARN IS NO MORE THAN 60 HOURS; AND 3) TO ASCERTAIN THROUGH STUDENT FEEDBACK HOW MUCH THEY WERE MOTIVATED BY THE MATERIAL, HOW MUCH THEY ENJOYED IT, AND HOW MUCH THEY UNDERSTOOD IT. THE FWC APPROACH IS A COMBINATION AND UPDATE OF ELEMENTS FROM TRAINING RESEARCH STUDIES CONDUCTED OVER THE PAST 30 YEARS. NEW HARDWARE TECHNOLOGY HAS LOWERED THE COSTS OF CERTAIN ELEMENTS OF OLD STUDIES SO THAT WHAT WAS THEN EFFECTIVE IS NOW COST EFFECTIVE. FORMER RESEARCH TECHNIQUES HAVE BEEN UPDATED TO MODERN TECHNOLOGY WHILE RETAINING THOSE CONCEPTS AND APPROACHES THAT MADE THE HISTORICAL RESEARCH EFFECTIVE IN IMPROVING PERFORMANCE.