A procedure involving prompting, repetition of the correct response, and reinforcement was effectively used to teach three adults with profound mental retardation gestural yes-no responding. However, reliable generalization of the individuals' responses across settings or persons did not occur even after generality training. (Author/DB)

Discussion of human performance technology focuses on training and performance improvement. Highlights include performance maintenance; environmental influences that can affect performance; and the evolving role of human performance technology, including feedback, evaluation, and design efforts. (LRW)

Describes the results of a study that tested the customer service responses from 11 companies selling online information including online hosts, database producers, and World Wide Web search engine companies. Highlights include content-oriented issues, costs, training, human interaction, and the use of technology to save time and increase…

Reports on a nationwide survey of graduate teaching assistant (GTA) training and teaching resources available to faculty. Discusses examples of workable programs and comparisons of GTA training models. Concludes that even when there is some formal structure in the GTA training program, these experiences are brief and follow-up activities are…

Describes a formative evaluation of a one-day introductory computer-based training course for university employees using a new online financial and purchasing system. Evaluated the effectiveness of the training, identified appropriate revisions that were incorporated into the training program, and examined learner attitudes toward the course.…

Matching-to-sample skills are involved in language acquisition and reading and counting abilities. The rapid, even errorless, induction of matching performances in young children and 28 individuals with mental retardation (ages 11-20) was demonstrated through the structuring of a visual array that promoted detection of the relevant stimulus.…

Discusses public libraries' imperatives for training older adults in computer use and surveys current literature on older adult learning. Concludes that older adults do learn differently from younger adults; explores how learning differences are relevant to computer learning; and suggests implications for trainers of older adults. (Author/LRW)

Describes how providing a well-designed injury prevention program that includes attention to growth and development, training and conditioning, protective equipment, and emergency care can minimize youth sport injuries. (SM)

Discusses issues related to training and performance improvement, including practice required for skill learning; knowledge versus skills; core skills; competence; learning to learn; team orientation; enabling business results; interpersonal and conceptual skills; timing; focusing on priorities; organizational learning and management…

This study evaluated the effectiveness of a reinforcement-based toilet training intervention with three children with autism. Procedures included positive reinforcement, graduated guidance, scheduled practice trials, and forward prompting. All three children reduced urination accidents to zero and learned to request bathroom use spontaneously…

Describes a model called EPOSODE (Enhanced Procedural Orchestration through Student Observation and Detection of Errors) that uses performance errors to teach and assess procedural knowledge via computer-based interactive video (CBIV) technology. Two prototypes based on EPOSODE are described, and Anderson's theory of procedural knowledge is…

An adult male with mild mental retardation had previously been trained in a match-to-sample task on 16 arbitrary relations among 16 visual stimuli and 2 auditory stimuli. Testing indicated the development of 112 additional arbitrary relations that had never been reinforced. On two-year and three-year followup, his performances remained stable.…

Suggestions are offered for implementing fund-raising phonathons which solicit prospects in their native language. The multilingual phonathon programs at the University of California (Irvine), St. Mary's University in Nova Scotia, and Concordia University (Quebec) are described, including recruitment of bilingual callers, training, and…

Fifteen students, age 13-21, with moderate to profound mental retardation received shopping skills training in either 1 or 3 department stores. A study of operational behaviors, social behaviors, number of settings in which criterion performance was achieved, and number of sessions required to achieve criterion found no significant differences…

Training prospective and practicing teachers is the responsibility of both public schools and universities. To do the job efficiently, a single faculty and support structure for training teachers must be created. This must happen despite an environment encumbered with excessive bureaucratic regulation, autonomous political entities, and highly…