Technology should help learners transcend the limitations of their minds. When learners use technologies as partners, they can off-load unproductive tasks, and work more productively. The purpose of designing this EPSS was to assign cognitive responsibility to each part of the learning system that does it best. By implementing an EPSS, we allocate to the learner cognitive responsibility for recognizing, judging, and organizing patterns of information and allocate to technology responsibility for storing processes, procedures, and facilitating information retrieval. In this way, the learner, not the EPSS, determines the learning path by choosing what information is needed and when and how it's provided.

It has been observed that instructor performance using equipment installed in Electronic Classrooms (ECs) is generally more competent on individual pieces of equipment or software and less skilled on the system as a whole. In addition, turnover due to change of duty station leaves the schoolhouse without a cadre of teachers able to train new instructors how to use the EC. There are significant costs associated with EC underutilization. The most significant are the high overhead fees incurred by supporting instructors who cannot function independently. This paying for additional administrative support that adds no value could prevent schoolhouses from fully achieving their EC mission - providing automated instructional delivery systems that take advantage of current and future technology to enhance student interaction with course material and increase understanding and performance.

This paper discusses the theoretical background of EPSS' including instructional strategies associated with adult learning theory and links theory to design to provide a conceptual framework for building an EPSS, not just for ECs but for any system that is supported by a Training System Utilization Handbook. It also discusses the overall design strategy, how it was developed, and how the EPSS supports the user.