Summarizes the six articles included in this special issue, which discuss evaluation of human performance in critical skills occupations; strategic planning for safety in high-risk occupations; performance and training effectiveness decisions; performance indicators for training evaluation; evaluation of a nuclear training program; and a model for…

This book describes a systematic method for producing instructional programs, courses, and materials that focus on human performance and how to improve it, not merely on training itself. It addresses such diverse topics as the following: how adults learn best, analyzing the training need, developing evaluation tools, delivering training courses,…

This paper presents a model for an integrated system used for job-aiding, training, and performance assessment for persons who maintain systems of various types. The model is driven by updatable job aids, by integrated human-machine heuristics, and by an expanding matrix of maintenance activities. The model uses the job-aiding base, updated by…

A survey was conducted of all Webster University (Missouri) Extended Campus site directors (N=37) addressing the duties they associated with support staff positions at their sites. The directors were asked to assign relative importance in the duty rankings they listed and to show the job titles used for the positions at their sites. The 16…

Traditional methods for task analysis have been largely based on the Instructional Systems Development (ISD) model, which is widely used throughout industry and the military. The first part of this document gives an overview of cognitive task analysis, which is conducted within the first phase of ISD. The following steps of cognitive task analysis…

The Skills Standards Projects have provided further emphasis on the need for benchmarking U.S. vocational-technical education (VTE) against international competition. Benchmarking is an ongoing systematic process designed to identify, as quantitatively as possible, those practices that produce world class performance. Metrics are those things that…

Offices are places in which information is generated and processed. According to the classic theories of labor organization, human activities can be roughly divided into two main families: manual and intellectual. Each family can be broken down into three basic stages: planning, performance, and supervision. The families and basic stages can be…

This report describes a youth competency model that was developed to help trainers involved in Job Training Partnership Act (JTPA) programs in Kansas to evaluate program participants' competency in four major areas: pre-employment, work maturity, basic education, and job-specific skills. Discussed in the first section, which provides background on…

An innovative session was conducted to introduce session participants to a concept and researched model for linking organizational culture and performance. The session goals were as follows: (1) give participants a working knowledge of the link between business culture and key business performance indicators; (2) give participants a hands-on…

The hypothesis that making judgments is the basis for workplace learning was examined by studying work in a range of occupations with a view to identifying and analyzing the main judgments involved in individuals' work performance. To test the hypothesis, six practicing professionals (three men and three women) were interviewed. Two of…

The implementation of competency-based assessment (CBA) under Australia's National Training Framework was evaluated to provide indicators for improvement in CBA policy and practice. The evaluation included three data collection activities: a survey of 258 teachers, trainers, and assessors (response rate, 43%); a survey of 68 Industry Training…

This document presents and discusses a self-assessment checklist that the General Accounting Office (GAO) developed to enable agency leaders to examine their human capital efforts through a process consisting of the following stages: analyze and plan; implement change; and evaluate and continuously improve. The preface defines the term "human…

This document is designed to teach learners in secondary and postsecondary electrical trades courses to recognize, evaluate, and control hazards associated with electrical work, The manual's eight sections each include some or all of the following components: instructional text; definitions; case studies illustrating key safety considerations;…

This document contains four papers on organizational enhancement and human resource development (HRD). "Motivation to Improve Work through Learning in Human Resource Development" (Sharon S. Naquin, Elwood F. Holton III) argues that HRD's traditional conceptualization of motivation should be expanded to incorporate motivation to use…

This document contains three papers on issues in evaluation. "Evaluation of the Method of Modeling: A Case Study of the Finnish Steel Industry" (Ville Nurmi) describes the method of modeling as an educational strategy to support both specific goal-directed transformative learning focused on work process and learning in workplaces, and it…