Computer based training (CBT), is vaguely defined as the use of computers in assisted instruction, managed instruction or enriched instruction for delivery of a given domain of information.i
There are numerous advantages to offering CBT's for a given domain. Examples include course ware for professional certifications, these include the PMP designation from the PMI, the PMI makes CBT's available for the Prince2 series of standards, the PMI does require at laest 2 weeks of formal classroom training in addition to a given number of years of demonstrated experience in project management. There are also CBT's for the Certified Management Accountant, Certified Financial Advisor, The UK department of commerce has CBT's for the ITSM standards and companies such as EXIN and Pearson Vue deliver course ware and exams for the ITIL foundations certification. Microsoft even has an entire engineering regimen with over 40 separate domains for each of the enterprise products offered; the most common undertaken being the MCSE and MCITS exams consisting of the 6 core Microsoft technologies. The (ISC)2 has both traditional training and computer assisted training for the CISSP designation, the ISSAP, ISSMP and ISSEP each also have CBT's and psychical manuals for around $160 each. The ISACA has CBT's for each of the certifications they offer in addition to the available courses ware and boot camps consisting of 3 to 4 week courses on a given certification such as the CISA, CISM, CRISK, and CEGIT; each focused on a given component of the CoBIT domain; also quite costly.
What do all these mean and how are CBT's advantageous to them; each of these designations is a global certification that demonstrates to potential employers and peers that an individual carrying them is bound by a code of conduct, and has given knowledge in this domain; usually in addition to a higher education, these are almost required to differentiate the individual on a global scale as the job market is now truly global. Industry needs these certifications to differentiate the individual's that apply to given positions as a matter of both conduct, knowledge and expierence.
The advantages of CBT include the fact that school can be in the comfort of your own home, or in a library or anywhere that Internet access or program access is available; with the advent of inexpensive mobile computing this is practically anywhere that electrical power is available which is most of the populated planet.
Therefore once a given designation or certification is to become a standard for a given field of employment; it must also be available to those within said field to be undertaken and attempted. Certifications like the A+, CCNA, CCNP, CCIE, MCSE, MCDST, MCP, MCITS, MCA and others demonstrate that a given individual may be capable of maintaining, designing and working with computer based infrastructure that consists of mostly CISCO enterprise class hardware with Microsoft products. Before said individual may take each of these exams they must become well versed in the given domain of information for said exam. For the above exams with the exception of the CCIE and MCA all other courses have CBT's by the organization that offers this certification and by other independent training organization's.
Moores law dictates that every 12 to 18 months the available cost of a cpu second is cut in half.ii This translates into drastic technological change every 12 to 18 months as new software may make use of inexpensive cycles to do even more work. Alvin Toffler in future shock described this rate of change as “Logarithmic” that is the rate of entropy in society will increase in an exponential manner as a result of the technological influence.iii To put this in perspective we can now video conference on devices that fit in the palm of our hands using wireless technology and communicate around the globe in milliseconds.
This means that CBT's may reach a global audience; this in the history of mankind has never been previously been possible, the inter-net is the equivalent of the great library . They may do so at a fraction of the cost of traditional education as the CBT relies on the cost of operations of a computer; which is also cut in half every 12 to 18 months.
The professional world is now growing and changing at the same frantic exponential pace. Traditional professions still focus on core functions; Law, Medicine, Education, Economics, Finance and Industrial Production and management still require the use of highly specialized skills that require additional education and training beyond university at the masters and professional levels.
Professional updating and education via CBT”s is available for Medical Procedures, entire courses in Law, Economics and Business Administration at both the Bachelors and Masters level are now offered on line from institutions such as the university of Liverpool, London's famous external program and others such as Athabasca here in Canada. There are entire Mba programs offered on-line from globally accredited institutions.
However they are not perceived as prestigious as their traditional counter parts. Having an Mba from an ivy league school is a mark of both privilege and wealth, not necessarily indicative of skill.
CBT's are a very good way to maintain a current set of knowledge in a given field and are excellent at teaching theory and knowledge as well as research methods, these will introduce and familiarize any individual with a given domain but they will not make that individual an expert. Since industry is reinventing itself in the information age at an ever increasing rate, the battle to remain releavent or usefull means; To be a leader in any profession one must continually learn and relearn all skills associated with that profession with every major shift in it's paradigm.
The great disadvantage in CBT's is that Skill, true human skill is comprised of more than just knowledge and theory; it always includes practice. Dentists, Doctors, Lawers, Detectives, Judges and even computer programmers must become adept in their field by practice in addition to training in advanced theory. Examples include that a surgeon must be an adept seamstress as tissue has more in common with cloth than we know. A dentist must be an excellent communicator to understand the words of his or her patients during a routine day. Lawers must be adept communicators and great creative thinkers to develop complex arguments to meet the needs of their practice. These skills are gained in practice. A concert pianist must practice the pieces of Chopin a thousand times and they may never master them.
Malcolm Gladwell states that to become a leader or genius in any given field one must devote 10,000 hours to it's practice, this is a rule cited regardless of domain.iv CBT's allow one to become well versed enough in a given domain to attempt practice with a good chance of success; however practice and experience become skill. One cannot master a martial art by theory alone, it includes the 10,000 hours of training in that particular art.
Human computer interaction is difficult at best, entertaining at worst and potentially threating to people's health as staring at a computer screen for forty plus hours a week may ruin one's eyesight and posture causing back pain, and the inactive prone nature of this procedure potentially increasing one's risk of heart failurev. The QWERTY layout for keyboards was originally intended to slow typists down as to prevent the jamming of physical hammers and destruction on Remington typewritersvi.
There are even companies dedicated to developing traditional workstation cubes that contain treadmills as a means to reduce this risk by forcing the user to walk while typing.
The human mind in all it's glory learns knowledge, theory and practice and develops skills by adjusting the interconnectedness of it's various components to suit it's experience; We know where within the structure these connections occur and even how neruons align and fire with one another to form memory; through perception as encoded by short term and then longterm memory. It is said that the available permutations of connections in the human mind outnumber the elemental particles in the universe. This “connectome” is the individual that learns the above mentioned skillsvii.
In the Witchouski brothers blockbuster hit movie “The Matrix” the films protagonist; Neo played by Keenau Reeves; Neo masters “Kung Fu” by downloading the software; the knowledge and experience of 1000 kung-fu masters into his mind. This is not that far from the future; currently there is a lot of funding to develop a Brain Computer Interface that is non-invasive and medically safe. Kevin Warwick of the university of reading developed and tested a neuronal interface that used the median nerve to act as a communications pathway between his mind and devices he designedviii.
To overcome the issues that are disadvantages in delivering computer based training that would actually create a fully qualified doctor with 4 years of residency experience; short of having a brain computer interface that will allow us to dynamically program our “connectome” which will happen within the next twenty five years.
We can improve existing CBT systems with haptic feedback and immersive interfaces and the use of virtual reality; such as the use of tele-medicine terminals for training surgeons like those developed by Intutivie surgical called Davinci Robotsix. These methods will only be applied to professions where the cost of education justifies the investment in the required technology. We've already creaeted sytems that produce better pilots by using flying simulators that immerse the pilot in the plane in a simulated environment with no real risk to human lifex.
Mechainics will still learn rudiments on regular every day vehicles, but computer based training may make them more knowledgeable about the computer systems on the cars and how to troubleshoot the electrical systems more accurately. Doctors will still develop a bedside manner by residing in a hospital and experiencing the highs and lows of life and loss. Programmers will still learn by trial and error and creative exploration of computer languages and program development. CBT will simply reduce the amount of time it takes to become an expert from 10000 to less than 10000 hours.
iChappell, Camille (AandA software, 1999) Computer Based Training, Usefull or Useless? [Online] World Wide Web, Available from: http://www.aandasoftware.com/CBT/ComputerBasedTraining.htm (Accessed on February 10th 2011)
iiGordon, E Moore (Electronics, Volume 38, 1965) Cramming More Components Onto Integrated Circuts [Online] PDF Document, Available From: ftp://download.intel.com/museum/Moores_Law/Articles-Press_Releases/Gordon_Moore_1965_Article.pdf (Accessed February 10th 2011)
iiiToffler, Alvin (Horizion Magazene, Vol VII, Number 3 1965) The Future as a Way of Life [Online] Available from: http://prestwidge.com/horizon/mtoc.htm (Accessed on February 10th 2011)
ivGaldwell, Micheal; (Little Brown and Company, 2008) Outliers: the story of Success ISBN 13:978-0316017923
vEkbloom-Bak, Elin (British Journal of Sports Medicine, 2010) Are we facing a new paradigm of inactivity physiology? [Online] World Wide Web, Avaialble from: http://bjsm.bmj.com/content/44/12/834.full (Accessed on February 10th 2011)
viLeibowitz, S.J.; Margolis, Stephen E. (North Carolina State University, 1990) The Fable of Keys [Online] World Wide Web, Available from: http://www.jstor.org/pss/725509 (Accessed on February 11th 2011)
viiAsher, Juiles; Stimson, Daniel (National Institute of Health, 2010) $40 million awarded to trace human brain's connections [Online] World Wide Web, Available From: http://www.nih.gov/news/health/sep2010/nimh-15.htm (Accessed on February 10th 2011)
viiiWarwick, Kevin (University of Reading, N.D. ) Kevin Warwick Home Page [Online] World Wide Web, Available from: http://www.kevinwarwick.com/index.asp (Accessed on February 10th 2011)
ixN.A. (Intutitive Surgical, N.D. ) Intuitive Surgical Products Page [Online] World Wide Web, Avaialble from: http://www.intuitivesurgical.com/products/ (Accessed on February 11th 2011)
xAllan, Marshal (Las Vegas Sun, January 29 2011) Decades after airline crash, lessons learned applied in operating room [Online] World Wide Web, Avialable from: http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2011/jan/29/how-health-care-can-learn-path-trod-aviation/
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