COMPUTER-BASED TRAINING FEATURES

CBT has a number of distinct and unique features, including:

Immediate Feedback. The immediate feedback most computer-based training provides on trainee progress allows both instructors and trainees to monitor progress and adjust instruction accordingly. This feature is important for all skills, because it ensures that students are actually learning what they need to know.

Placement. Placement via on-line testing that matches a trainee with needed training is also built into many CBT systems. By using this feature, you avoid any unnecessary training for an individual. The CBT can accommodate each individual's needs by "branching" to the level of training that is appropriate for that individual.

Integration of Text, Graphics, Video, and Sound. If the training is particularly content dense (many new concepts presented close together) or uses a hierarchy of skill acquisition (where current concept mastery is dependent on mastery of earlier concepts), CBT's integration of text, graphics, video, and sound facilitates the learning process. On average, people remember:

20% of what they see,
40% of what they see and hear, and
70% of what they hear, see and do,

so CBT's rich, multi-sensory delivery system can facilitate greater retention of new knowledge.

* This is based on Judy L. Geisman's "Beyond CBT: Interactive Video" in Computers and Personnnel, Summer 1988, pp. 35-38. This, in turn, can probably be traced back to Edgar Dale's Cone of Experience.

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Questions? Contact Brett Bixler.