Date of Award
3-1-1989
Document Type
Dissertation - NSU Access Only
Degree Name
Doctor of Education
Department
Center for the Advancement of Education
Abstract
The lack of adequate computer competencies has been a serious deficiency of trainers assigned to the European Communications Division. Prior to this MARP, the important computer competencies needed by Alt Force trainers were not known and a curriculum for achieving computer competency did not exist. Determining the important computer competencies and designing a curriculum were necessary to compensate for limited training funds, reduced numbers of formal computer courses, and to keep pace with computer technology in work centers. Because computers are used in many work centers of the division for word processing and information processing, it is imperative that trainers possess the necessary computer competencies needed to deliver instruction to work center personnel. The identification of the important computer competencies through this MARP, and the resultant computer curriculum, were the Initial actions instituted to resolve this deficiency. Through this MARP, the competencies necessary for a person in the Air Force to achieve computer literacy were identified, the important computer competencies as perceived by trainers were identified, and a curriculum was developed for achieving computer competency. The Delphi Technique was used for determining those computer competencies needed for computer literacy in the Air Force. A panel of 12 computer experts was selected from a population of approximately 30 persons. The panel determined through three rounds of a questionnaire the computer competencies needed for computer literacy. Using the data From the Delphi Technique, trainers were surveyed to find the relative importance of the competencies. The total population of 60 trainers who perform the role as computer trainers at organizations throughout Europe was surveyed. Using the data obtained from the survey, a curriculum was developed for achieving the important computer competencies. The research questions were related to determining computer competencies necessary to achieve computer literacy, determining the important computer competencies needed by trainers, determining demographic backgrounds of trainers who participate in the study, and determining the perceptions of trainers coward computer literacy. Data collected for the study verified that there was a need for a computer training curriculum. The mean scores indicated the different levels of importance of the competencies and the developed computer curriculum provides a course for achieving computer literacy. The curriculum was distributed to wings and technical centers and has been placed into operational use. The following conclusions were made from the study: 1. Computer competencies are perceived to be important by the trainers who participated in the study. 2. The inservice training program should be redesigned to incorporate computer training for trainers. 3. The developed curriculum can satisfy the inservice training need for computer training and can be used to achieve computer competency. 4. The important computer competences identified in the study are needed by trainers. 5. Trainers need a diversity of computer knowledges and skills. 6. The identified important computer competencies may not be a conclusive list of competencies needed for a trainer to be computer literate. 7. The need for a computer literacy course was evident from the results of the study. 8. Computer literacy training should be conducted in a formal classroom environment. As a result of the study the following recommendations were made: 1. The computer literacy curriculum should be made a mandatory training requirement for trainers who perform the role as computer trainers. 2. The computer curriculum should be added to the inventory of courses offered by the Small Computer Technical Center. 3. The training budget should reflect funds to finance computer training. 4. The computer curriculum should be further developed to include more comprehensive training on competencies that were rated as "somewhat important." 5. The computer curriculum objectives should be expanded to include more applications training. 6. A study should be conducted to further explore the training and development needs of trainers in a computer based training environment. 7. A series of computer courses should be developed that apply to the specific training needs of a particular work center. 8. A similar study should be conducted that encompasses a broader population of Air Force trainers. The results of the study could be used for developing a standardized computer literacy curriculum for Air Force wide.