International Telemetering Conference Proceedings / October 25-28, 1993 / Riviera Hotel and Convention Center, Las Vegas, Nevada / In today's world, the importance of training for telemetry systems continues to grow as new technologies provide users with ever-increasing capabilities. Successful training programs ensure telemetry systems quickly become operational yielding the acquisition of critical test data. Over the years, training programs have been greatly impacted by the changes in defense contracts -- specifically funding. Today's aggressive telemetry market requires contractors to develop complex telemetry systems within the constraints of Firm Fixed price (FFP) contracts and within very short schedules. As a result of these conditions, training programs have changed significantly over the last ten years. Projects which used to have dedicated training personnel (instructors, technical writers, etc.) now rely on the system developers to provide the training. In actuality, the quality of training has improved with this new approach. Now students benefit from having the most knowledgeable personnel teach them about the system and, often times, latent problems with the system are efficiently identified and corrected. This paper will summarize the evolution of training programs for telemetry systems developed by Computer Sciences Corporation. The benefits of a scenario where the system architects train the end users with the use of increased "hands-on" training will be explored.

This study examined the statistical consequences of employing various methods of computing and cumulating effect sizes in meta-analysis. Six methods of computing effect size, and three techniques for combining study outcomes, were compared. Effect size metrics were calculated with one-group and pooled standardizing denominators, corrected for bias and for unreliability of measurement, and weighted by sample size and by sample variance. Cumulating techniques employed as units of analysis the effect size, the study, and an average study effect. In order to determine whether outcomes might vary with the size of the meta-analysis, mean effect sizes were also compared for two smaller subsets of studies. An existing meta-analysis of 60 studies examining the effectiveness of computer-based instruction was used as a data base for this investigation. Recomputation of the original study data under the six different effect size formulas showed no significant difference among the metrics. Maintaining the independence of the data by using only one effect size per study, whether a single or averaged effect, produced a higher mean effect size than averaging all effect sizes together, although the difference did not reach statistical significance. The sampling distribution of effect size means approached that of the population of 60 studies for subsets consisting of 40 studies, but not for subsets of 20 studies. Results of this study indicated that the researcher may choose any of the methods for effect size calculation or cumulation without fear of biasing the outcome of the metaanalysis. If weighted effect sizes are to be used, care must be taken to avoid giving undue influence to studies which may have large sample sizes, but not necessarily be the most meaningful, theoretically representative, or elegantly designed. It is important for the researcher to locate all relevant studies on the topic under investigation, since selective or even random sampling may bias the results of small meta-analyses.

The word "interactive" is used commonly when describing many teaching, learning, and training software. Yet, this word does not provide a clear picture to the users what interactivity will provide. In order to better define and understand how, and if at all, interactive software affects learning, this study examined different components of interactivity. Two components of interactivity, frequency and quality, were used in this study. Much of the literature describe and provide comments that interactive learning is "good," but none seem to examine the components of interactivity within an empirical research study. Therefore, this study examined frequency and quality of interactivity in a human factors experiment using a Web browser and a computer simulation game. This study seems to be one of the first to experimentally investigate and test components of interactive learning. The two components of interactivity both had two levels and therefore were varied factorially as four different types of learning materials. After going through the learning materials, each participant in the study had to go through two different testing methods. The first method was a traditional paper test of knowledge, and the second method was applying the knowledge in the computer simulation game. The latter is considered analogous to applying learned information at a workplace. The results showed neither frequency nor quality to be significant. But, the interaction of the two components showed significance. The results lead to the conclusion that interactivity is more than one dimensional. One component alone will not alter effectiveness, but the right combination of components can provide an effective interactive learning material. / Master of Science

In order to help a group of introductory-level music students achieve a foundational understanding of music theory, a series of computer-based instructional modules were developed using a system called Technology-Assisted Language Learning (TALL). This system, though primarily intended to be used in developing natural language-based instruction, was designed to be flexible enough to handle a broad range of academic subjects. The design of the instruction was largely accomplished via formative evaluation, where student and expert reviews of prototypes played a significant role. Students reviewed three separate prototypes of the instruction, and experts in instructional design and evaluation were also asked to provide feedback. The instructional approach of the learning modules consisted of drill and practice exercises, which included remedial feedback. Activities were sequenced such that review was required until a specified level of mastery had been achieved. The implementation of the software was less than perfect as numerous software bugs were present throughout. This caused frustration on the part of students and resulted in inaccuracies in the data collected by the system. A formal evaluation of the software and implementation was conducted in order to answer specific questions generated by those identified as stakeholders in the experience.

Currently, many educators are focusing on the development of Web-based material and the quality of such material needs to be evaluated. Expert review, as a formative evaluation method, is an important method to evaluate the material prior to release. Other studies have described the use of Subject-Matter Experts (SMEs) and also domain students, with enough knowledge in the subject area, as a way of enhancing the quality of the reviewed material. In addition to the SMEs and domain students a lecturer and graduate student, both in the subject discipline area, were used to review Web-based lectures on Advanced Computer Architectures. Both additional reviewers had sufficient knowledge of the discipline. The research investigates three main hypotheses: I) whether a review conducted by domain reviewers (SME and domain student) or discipline reviewers improves the quality of material, 2) whether using discipline reviewers improves the quality of the material more than domain reviewers and 3) whether there are differences in the quality of the material resulting from students' and lecturers' review. Five versions of the material were developed and used as inputs to an experiment that was designed to test the hypotheses by using questionnaires and tests. In summary, the findings of the research were that: SME reviewer and discipline reviewers were effective in producing higher quality than the unreviewed material. However, rather interestingly, the domain student was shown to be the least effective in enhancing the material. The investigation also found that there was no significant difference in the quality of the material resulting from students' and lecturers' review. Furthermore, it was found that the media used to present the material was more useful when the quality of that media was perceived to be high. Finally 90% of the subjects were willing to study Web-based lectures as part of the course.

This study investigated the use of computer-based instruction as a means of teaching Algebra I, compared to the teaching of the same topics using traditional methodologies. The achievement level of the two groups, and three aspects of attitude toward mathematics were considered. Achievement and attitude differences by gender were also analyzed.

The purpose of the study was to examine the impact that hypertext and hypertext design on the cognitive process. The study used two identical computer based lessons. One set of lessons used a complete set of hypertext resources that supported all of the learning objectives throughout the lessons. The other set of lessons focused the hypertext resources by limiting them to the immediate learning objective.

O cenário contábil brasileiro reflete as diversas transformações tecnológicas que a sociedade vem passando, como o aumento expressivo do comércio e dos serviços eletrônicos e o surgimento de moedas totalmente digitais, o bitcoin. Essa sociedade demanda um novo profissional contábil, na vanguarda da tecnologia, focado no negócio da empresa, participando da gestão e provendo informações úteis para a tomada de decisão. Preparar esse Contador é tarefa que certamente recai sobre as instituições de ensino. Essas instituições precisam adaptar seu currículo para uma realidade diferente daquela que existia quando os programas de contabilidade, do Brasil, foram criados. Nesse cenário foi realizada uma pesquisa visando a inserção de tecnologia baseada em inteligência artificial, o sistema ALEKS, no ensino de Contabilidade. A questão de pesquisa foi avaliar em que medida a tecnologia da educação, baseada em Inteligência Artificial, pode auxiliar na aquisição de habilidades técnicas necessárias ao estudante de Ciências Contábeis. Para tanto foi realizado um quase-experimento com os estudantes da disciplina de Contabilidade Introdutória do curso de Bacharelado em Ciências Contábeis da Universidade de São Paulo, introduzindo o sistema ALEKS como ferramenta de suporte no ensino de Contabilidade básica. Apesar da adesão à pesquisa de 122 estudantes, somente 71 fizeram algum acesso ao sistema e apenas 16 estudantes utilizaram o sistema de forma satisfatória para que se pudesse captar algum benefício do uso do sistema. A hipótese nula foi mantida para os estudantes da turma T01 (p = 0,398, n = 8) do período diurno e para a turma T22 (p = 0,014, n = 5) do período noturno, tendo sido rejeitada para a turma T21 (p = 0,001, n = 3) do período noturno, significando que o sistema produz pequeno ou nenhum efeito sobre o desempenho dos estudantes na disciplina presencial. Grande destaque deve ser dado a baixa adesão dos estudantes ao uso do sistema. Uma pesquisa de adequação buscou capturar esse aspecto. Os estudantes elencaram a dificuldade com o idioma e com os termos técnicos, o não alinhamento do sistema com a disciplina presencial e a falta de tempo para realização de tarefas extraclasse como fatores impeditivos ou desmotivadores de acesso e uso do sistema ALEKS. Entende-se que a inserção de tecnologia baseada em inteligência artificial no ambiente educacional é positiva, devido a motivação incial e aos relatos dos estudantes com apoio a iniciativa. Essa inserção pode fomentar o processo educacional para estudantes, docentes e instituições. Um alinhamento do ALEKS à disciplina presencial certamente produziria resultados diferentes dos encontrados na presente pesquisa, permitindo maior confiabilidade aos achados. Mais pesquisas precisam ser produzidas no ambiente brasileiro, considerando não apenas os estudantes, mas considerando docentes, instituições e empresas. / The Brazilian accounting scenario reflects the many technological changes that society is facing, as a significant increase in trade and electronic services, and the emergence of fully digital currencies, such as bitcoin. This society demands a new accountant at the forefront of technology, focused on the company\'s business by participating in management and providing useful information for decision making. Helping to prepare this accountant is a task that surely lies with educational institutions. These institutions need to adapt syllabi to a different reality if compared to what existed when most accounting programs in Brazil were created. In this scenario, this research relies on a survey aimed at adoption of educational technology based on artificial intelligence (ALEKS), in an Accounting. The research question is to assess the extent to which technology education based on Artificial Intelligence can assist students to acquire the necessary Accounting technical skills. A quasi-experiment with students of Introduction to Accounting course at the undergraduate level at the University of São Paulo was developed, introducing ALEKS as a support tool in teaching basic accounting. Despite the large number of participants of the survey, 122 students, only 71 actually accessed the system and only 16 students used the system in a satisfactory manner, so to allow capturing some benefit of its use. The null hypothesis was sustained for students of cohort T01 (p = 0.398, n = 8) day period and the cohort T22 (p = 0.014, n = 5) of the evening. The hypothesis was rejected for cohort T21 (p = 0.001, n = 3) of the evening period, meaning that the system produces little or no effect on student performance. Attention should be given to poor adherence of students to use the system and an additional survey of adequacy sought to capture this aspect. Students list the difficulty with language and technical terms, the non-alignment of the system with the classroom discipline and lack of time to perform tasks such as extracurricular, or demotivating factors all impeding access and use of the ALEKS system. It is clear that the adoption of artificial intelligence-based technology in the educational environment is positive, because the initial motivation of students and feedbacks supporting the initiative. It can foster the educational process for students, teachers and institutions. An alignment of ALEKS with other classroom activities certainly would find different results from those found in the present research, increasing reliability of the findings. More research in this area needs to be conducted in the Brazilian environment, considering not only students, but also teachers, institutions and companies.

A chief human characteristic is the desire and ability to change the world. Prior planning is crucial when those changes are complex and extensive, and require the cooperation of many people. To satisfy this need, many disciplines have developed specialized notations for representing the plans. Developers in one discipline, computer-based instruction, are burdened by the current need to use two separate notations. Instructional experts design the instruction and represent the design with a primary representation. The instruction described in a primary representation is easy to see, which makes the representation suitable for evaluation, communication, and enhancement. Programmers translate the primary representation into a computer program, which is able to run on a computer but is a secondary representation. The problem with this process is that the primary representation is equivocal or ambiguous. Equivocal representations are subject to multiple interpretations; it is also possible for programmers to introduce errors during translation. Alternatively, the computer program is unequivocal, but the instruction that is evident in the primary representation diffuses into the program, becoming obscure and difficult to use for further evaluation, communication, or enhancement. A representation that is both unequivocal and primary benefits computer-based instructional development by eliminating ambiguity and translation errors while preserving the instructional details for later use. A representation is unequivocal if it is computable, and it is primary if it is able to represent the dynamic behaviors of complex instruction and its use as a design language can be demonstrated in published literature. My research evaluated and compared two design languages, PEAnets (networks of processes, entities, and actions) and the Unified Modeling Language, as potential unequivocal primary representations. Two translators, one for each language, were developed as a part of this research, and four complex computer-based instructional examples were created and translated into operational computer-based instruction. The translators demonstrated that both representations are computable, and the examples demonstrated that both languages are sufficiently robust to represent complex computer-based instructional systems. Both languages have been used successfully for designing instruction or general computer systems. I concluded, based on these observations, that both languages qualify as unequivocal primary representations.

O cenário contábil brasileiro reflete as diversas transformações tecnológicas que a sociedade vem passando, como o aumento expressivo do comércio e dos serviços eletrônicos e o surgimento de moedas totalmente digitais, o bitcoin. Essa sociedade demanda um novo profissional contábil, na vanguarda da tecnologia, focado no negócio da empresa, participando da gestão e provendo informações úteis para a tomada de decisão. Preparar esse Contador é tarefa que certamente recai sobre as instituições de ensino. Essas instituições precisam adaptar seu currículo para uma realidade diferente daquela que existia quando os programas de contabilidade, do Brasil, foram criados. Nesse cenário foi realizada uma pesquisa visando a inserção de tecnologia baseada em inteligência artificial, o sistema ALEKS, no ensino de Contabilidade. A questão de pesquisa foi avaliar em que medida a tecnologia da educação, baseada em Inteligência Artificial, pode auxiliar na aquisição de habilidades técnicas necessárias ao estudante de Ciências Contábeis. Para tanto foi realizado um quase-experimento com os estudantes da disciplina de Contabilidade Introdutória do curso de Bacharelado em Ciências Contábeis da Universidade de São Paulo, introduzindo o sistema ALEKS como ferramenta de suporte no ensino de Contabilidade básica. Apesar da adesão à pesquisa de 122 estudantes, somente 71 fizeram algum acesso ao sistema e apenas 16 estudantes utilizaram o sistema de forma satisfatória para que se pudesse captar algum benefício do uso do sistema. A hipótese nula foi mantida para os estudantes da turma T01 (p = 0,398, n = 8) do período diurno e para a turma T22 (p = 0,014, n = 5) do período noturno, tendo sido rejeitada para a turma T21 (p = 0,001, n = 3) do período noturno, significando que o sistema produz pequeno ou nenhum efeito sobre o desempenho dos estudantes na disciplina presencial. Grande destaque deve ser dado a baixa adesão dos estudantes ao uso do sistema. Uma pesquisa de adequação buscou capturar esse aspecto. Os estudantes elencaram a dificuldade com o idioma e com os termos técnicos, o não alinhamento do sistema com a disciplina presencial e a falta de tempo para realização de tarefas extraclasse como fatores impeditivos ou desmotivadores de acesso e uso do sistema ALEKS. Entende-se que a inserção de tecnologia baseada em inteligência artificial no ambiente educacional é positiva, devido a motivação incial e aos relatos dos estudantes com apoio a iniciativa. Essa inserção pode fomentar o processo educacional para estudantes, docentes e instituições. Um alinhamento do ALEKS à disciplina presencial certamente produziria resultados diferentes dos encontrados na presente pesquisa, permitindo maior confiabilidade aos achados. Mais pesquisas precisam ser produzidas no ambiente brasileiro, considerando não apenas os estudantes, mas considerando docentes, instituições e empresas. / The Brazilian accounting scenario reflects the many technological changes that society is facing, as a significant increase in trade and electronic services, and the emergence of fully digital currencies, such as bitcoin. This society demands a new accountant at the forefront of technology, focused on the company\'s business by participating in management and providing useful information for decision making. Helping to prepare this accountant is a task that surely lies with educational institutions. These institutions need to adapt syllabi to a different reality if compared to what existed when most accounting programs in Brazil were created. In this scenario, this research relies on a survey aimed at adoption of educational technology based on artificial intelligence (ALEKS), in an Accounting. The research question is to assess the extent to which technology education based on Artificial Intelligence can assist students to acquire the necessary Accounting technical skills. A quasi-experiment with students of Introduction to Accounting course at the undergraduate level at the University of São Paulo was developed, introducing ALEKS as a support tool in teaching basic accounting. Despite the large number of participants of the survey, 122 students, only 71 actually accessed the system and only 16 students used the system in a satisfactory manner, so to allow capturing some benefit of its use. The null hypothesis was sustained for students of cohort T01 (p = 0.398, n = 8) day period and the cohort T22 (p = 0.014, n = 5) of the evening. The hypothesis was rejected for cohort T21 (p = 0.001, n = 3) of the evening period, meaning that the system produces little or no effect on student performance. Attention should be given to poor adherence of students to use the system and an additional survey of adequacy sought to capture this aspect. Students list the difficulty with language and technical terms, the non-alignment of the system with the classroom discipline and lack of time to perform tasks such as extracurricular, or demotivating factors all impeding access and use of the ALEKS system. It is clear that the adoption of artificial intelligence-based technology in the educational environment is positive, because the initial motivation of students and feedbacks supporting the initiative. It can foster the educational process for students, teachers and institutions. An alignment of ALEKS with other classroom activities certainly would find different results from those found in the present research, increasing reliability of the findings. More research in this area needs to be conducted in the Brazilian environment, considering not only students, but also teachers, institutions and companies.