Industrial arts education is changing its curriculum to teach technology education. Teacher education programs in industrial arts have also changed their curriculums to prepare teachers for the new technology education programs. Current industrial arts teachers are in great need of staff development opportunities to help them deal with technological change, update their skills, and enable them to develop a curriculum to teach technology education. The purpose of this study was to survey Connecticut technology education teachers to determine their participation in specific staff development activities. The study also allowed responding teachers to identify how beneficial they perceived the staff development activities to be. In addition, the study was designed to identity significant correlations between staff development activities, attitude toward change, flexibility, and innovativeness. The substantive findings after a survey was administered are: (a) Connecticut teachers participated in a variety of staff development activities, with activities required as conditions of employment and activities related to state certification requirements receiving the greatest percentage of participation; (b) the staff development activities perceived as most beneficial by Connecticut technology teachers were those activities that were not required and in which the teachers voluntarily choose to participate; (c) a correlation was found between attitude toward innovation and participation in graduate degree programs, independent study, the technology teacher enhancement center, research projects, and curriculum development projects; (d) a correlation was found between flexibility and participation in teacher networks, and interdisciplinary teams; and (e) a correlation was found between innovativeness and participation in regional conferences, state conferences, state association meetings, student group advising, interdisciplinary teams, school committee meetings, and parent teacher groups. Lastly, recommendations were made for additional research and suggestions were made to modify the methodology.

The purpose of this study was to determine the perception of students, teachers, principals and employers of graduates, toward the status of technical and vocational education (TVE) programs in Imo State, Nigeria comprehensive secondary schools, and to identify why there was a shortage of adequately trained manpower. By the structure of the schools, they were expected to bridge the gap between academic and technical/vocational subjects. / The questionnaire and interview items examined the following major areas: (1) student, teacher, principal and employer demographic information, (2) the objectives of TVE as perceived by the samples, (3) teacher qualifications and experience, (4) instructional methods, (5) program enhancement services, (6) facilities and equipment, (7) perceptions about student pre-employment skills, (8) employment search skills, (9) job performance skills, (10) graduates' performance, (11) causes of shortage of adequately trained manpower, and (12) program strengths and weaknesses. / Data were analyzed with the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences software (SPSS). The analyses and descriptions were expressed as percentages, decimals and frequencies, and interpreted. / Data were collected from 20 comprehensive secondary schools in Imo State, selected via stratified random sampling. From the sample schools, 591 final year students registered in TVE subjects completed the student questionnaire. Fifty-nine TVE teachers completed the teacher questionnaire. Principals of the twenty schools were interviewed. Sixty-five employers in different professions, randomly selected across the state, participated in the employer interview. / The study determined that the schools lacked teachers, facilities and equipment. There were no program enhancement services such as guidance and counseling, job placement, cooperative work experience and library. Students had limited access to practical activities. These factors contributed to the inadequacy student preparation. These schools were not considered as institutions which trained students for employment after graduation. Students attended comprehensive secondary schools to prepare themselves for further study in professional fields, which would earn more respect in the society. / The findings of this study brought to focus the current status of Imo State comprehensive secondary schools. Recommendations were made to help the government address the concerns identified. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 53-11, Section: A, page: 3822. / Thesis (Ed.D.)--The Florida State University, 1992.

This research was designed to determine whether or not certain state and institutional policies and procedures are perceived by contract trainers at public higher education institutions in Georgia to create and/or exacerbate selected barriers to contract training with business and industry. An additional purpose was to determine the extent of involvement of those institutions in contract training. / The 66 administrators responsible for contract training at public colleges, universities, and technical institutes in Georgia were surveyed. A document analysis and fourteen interviews also were conducted. / It was determined that over 3,000 contract training courses were offered by the institutions in 1991-1992. Over 40,000 students participated, generating at least $6,000,000 in revenue. / Five policies were reported to impede contract training efforts. They were the constitutional prohibition on "rolling over" state funds and revenue, the requirement that programs be self-supporting, the institutional policy that mandates that the majority of contract training revenue be returned to the institutional budget rather than to the contract training budget, the lack of risk capital, and the lack of a state training program for contract training program staff. / The top four barriers to contract training were the lack of adequate training facilities, a program development staff of insufficient size and/or training, the lack of state-of-the-art training equipment, and inadequate funding. / There were no significant differences between the perceptions of college and university directors and those of technical institute directors concerning any of the potential barriers or policies. / The directors at the centralized and decentralized institutions differed significantly on two barriers: (1) internal competition between departments, divisions, and colleges; and (2) competition with faculty who consult independently. They also differed statistically on the institutional policy that requires all noncredit courses to be coordinated by one central unit. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 54-02, Section: A, page: 0403. / Major Professor: Mary Pankowski. / Thesis (Ed.D.)--The Florida State University, 1993.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Kent State University, 2009. / Title from PDF t.p. (viewed Nov. 13, 2009). Advisor: Sara J. Newman. Keywords: labor relations, workplace, risk communication, occupational safety, safety communication, enthymemes, literacy, rhetoric, Communications Toolkits, Toolkits, topoi. Includes bibliographical references (p. 196-206).

No description available.

The ESOPE-VR virtual reality power substation operator training system incorporates advanced features such as a 3D video display, audio interpretation and feedback, sophisticated navigation and object manipulation interfaces, and an expert system to validate operations. When these human-computer interaction techniques are brought together, they offer the opportunity to learn interactively with the training environment, rather than providing a passive classroom-like visual or audio training experience. Features such as the automatic creation of a 3D model substation derived from single-line diagrams, and the use of a distributed network methodology have been developed to enhance the flexibility of ESOPE-VR. / Alternate manipulation devices such as the 2D mouse, Logitech 6D flying mouse, and the Powerglove all have unique characteristics that can enhance the realism of the user interactions. This thesis investigates the effectiveness of these devices in providing an interaction interface to the ESOPE-VR virtual reality operator training system. These manipulation devices are analyzed and the development of accompanying manipulation strategies are described. Experimental results are presented and discussed.

The wide accessibility and low cost of virtual reality (VR) on the Web with the advent of the Virtual Reality Modelling Language (VRML) and VRML interpreters makes it ideal for use in providing cost-effective training for operators in selected complex technical environments. VR using VRML is limited; it is not suitable for all types of training, and the cost-effectiveness of deploying VRML-based virtual environments (VEs) is often impeded by high development time and cost. / This thesis examines the potential of using VRML to implement VEs for training in suitable tasks, and demonstrates that this potential can be fulfilled using an appropriate, reuse-driven design. To this end, state-of-the-art work in VR training and Web-based applications are investigated. The role of expert systems and intelligent tutoring systems (ITSs) in imparting expertise, and the architectures of interactive systems are also examined. VRML's limited ability to model abstract, complex concepts, and the need for a reusable design or framework in developing cost-effective learn-by-doing systems are then addressed in an initial prototype application. SEDA-VRML is a VRML-based learn-by-doing system developed for the training of maintenance workers in the troubleshooting and inspection of power transformers. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)

The goal of WITS Welding Intelligent Tutoring System is to provide a realistic and safe virtual reality environment to train electrical workers in performing standard alumino-thermal ground welding procedures on equipment in an electrical switching station yard. The WITS training system allows users to practice a variety of welding scenarios which satisfy company practices and provides help, feedback, and a performance evaluation. The Virtual Reality Interface, Expert System, Virtual Environment, and Monitoring modules of WITS are presented. This thesis focuses on the monitoring of human interactions in the WITS Welding Intelligent Tutoring System. The Monitoring module design includes welding task, manipulation, physics, scheduling, and weather agents. Implementation test results show the feasibility of this approach for monitoring the user's manual interactions in this training environment.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--George Mason University, 2008. / Vita: p. 123. Thesis director: Lois E. Tetrick. Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Psychology. Title from PDF t.p. (viewed Aug. 28, 2008). Includes bibliographical references (p. 114-122). Also issued in print.

Thesis (Ed. D.)--West Virginia University, 2009. / Title from document title page. Document formatted into pages; contains xvii, 247 p. : ill. (some col.). Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (p. 191-195).