Semantics of Procedures: A Cognitive Basis for Maintenance Training Competency

In 1984, the Army Research Institute initiated a three year project to study, design, and develop instructional environments to enhance the learning of procedural troubleshooting skills for the maintenance of complex machines. The goal of the project was to identify how artificial intelligence technologies could be used to create better technical proficiency instruction for maintenance personnel. Initially, the effort focused on the role of conceptual and procedural knowledge in troubleshooting, and on the ways that procedural skills can be learned as meaningful structures. Various types- of computational tools were used to extract analyze, and represent the structure of diagnostic procedures, expertise in troubleshooting in the field, and the nature of mental models of complex machines, and the role of such models ' in causal reasoning. Simulation and qualitative modelling studies were conducted to determine the role of mental modelling in instruction, and to investigate how simulation of machine behavior and repair strategies can provide maintenance personnel with a means for understanding machine components, functions, and troubleshooting procedures. The investigation of instructional strategies for teaching diagnostic skills led to the development of an interactive design and development system - the Instructional Design Environment (IDE). IDE is a prototype interactive design and development system that assists instructional designers in the process of creating complex instruction. Put another way; it is essentially a knowledge structuring system, in which the knowledge is course content, structure, and instructional method.-.It accepts knowledge describing course goals as input, and then assists the designer in creating his output - courses. The system thus implants a way of articulating the design and development process, by helping to create a structure which explains why curriculum design and delivery decisions were made. IDE can aid in creating course designs, structuring course content, and creating instructional sequences for standard, as well as adaptive delivery.