Researching Expertise Development in Complex Computer Applications

Abstract

This chapter describes research in the three-dimensional computer aided design (3D-CAD) context outlining the factors that need consideration when choosing appropriate knowledge elicitation techniques and research methodologies for the types of learner/computer interactions that occur. The teaching of Technology Education progressively involves greater use of computer technology. Computers are now commonly used to enable students to control devices such as lathes, mills and robots, to acquire data for input into the process of improving the solutions to problems, to design new products through the use of 3D-CAD, to design and test electronic, hydraulic and pneumatic circuits, to store and present information, to access information via the internet, and as a means by which learning material is presented, tested and recorded through computer based instruction. However, despite the plethora of new software with which both technology students and teachers interact on a daily basis little research has been undertaken that seeks to understand, in any systematic way, the nature of the cognitive interaction involved, or the manner in which students can progress from using the software at a relatively simple or superficial level to efficient or expert software use. In order to undertake this research new knowledge elicitation techniques need to be employed that will help to gather the detailed data that enables generation of an understanding of the cognitive processes and human-software interactions involved.