An individual-skills trainer for the Radar Intercept Observer was designed around a "smart" terminal and was field tested at the RIO school in Glynco, Georgia. Data were presented to show that 10 hours of practice on the trainer improved fluency in performing basic tasks in air intercepts, latencies in performing mental arithmetic were dramatically reduced, probability of hit scores increased, and number of turns during an intercept decreased.

It is concluded that this is a viable approach to individual-skills training for use in conjunction with other learning experiences in the class-room. The scope of basic job skills covered by a trainer of this type depends primarily on the ingenuity used in writing programs for it. As the electronics technology develops the means for putting more powerful hardware into increasingly smaller packages, the "smart" terminal as the basis for computer-aided instruction in job environments, e.g., for shipboard training, will become even more attractive.

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J. Rigney