Programming education has recently received increased attention due to growing demand for programming and information technology skills. However, a lack of teaching materials and human resources presents a major challenge to meeting this demand. One way to compensate for a shortage of trained teachers is to use machine learning techniques to…

Describes the Training Effectiveness Algorithm, a systematic procedure for identifying the cause of reported training problems which was developed for use in the U.S. Navy. A two-step review by subject matter experts is explained, and applications of the algorithm to other organizations and training systems are discussed. (Author/LRW)

The University of Kansas experience in applying Total Quality Management methods illustrates how use of flow charts can reduce substantially the time spent on a complex data-collection and reporting process. Although flow chart construction can be time-consuming, it is a systematic way to uncover sensible solutions with significant payoffs. (MSE)