The Tutor Training Course: Lessons Learned.
Larry D. Francis · 1976
The Military Training Centers (MTC) Group created and taught the first formal author training course for the TUTOR programming language and the use of the PLATO system. The course was used over a period of three years to train approximately 100 authors who spent two to three weeks at the Computer-based.Education Research Laboratory (CERL) of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. In general, the new authors had little previous experience with computers or programmed instruction; however, many wete classroom instructors. Thirteen cognitive and affective principles guided the creation of the author course; five were ponited originally, and the rest were formulated based on e:43erience derived from teaching the course. This _ report contains a statement of the principles and a description of their implementation, including many examples from course materials. It also recounts the highlights and turning points of the author training course, reviews the basis for its modification, and examines the dilemmas encountered in teaching new authors to prepare computer-based instruction materials. Techniques for resolving some of these dilemmas are suggested. The MTC training course was evaluated by examining the experience of users outside of MTC. The opinions and recommendations of these outside groups suggest that they found the materials valuable and effective, This report is directed to instructors of new authors, developers of author training materials, and managers of computer-based instruction development