DETERMINATION OF INSTRUCTIONAL STAFF CONCERNS ABOUT NAVY TRAINING DEVICES

An effective formative evaluation process to determine instructional personnel concerns about training devices is needed. Knowledge of these concerns will allow managers to take appropriate action to improve device use. This study was designed to describe Navy instructional personnel concerns about training devices and present interventions to improve attitudes about these devices. The instruments used were a Stages of Concern Questionnaire (SoCQ) modified from the SoCQ originally developed by Gene E. Hall and his associates at the University of Texas at Austin, and a Stages of Concern Intervention Survey (SoCIS) developed for this study. Validity and reliability coefficients were calculated for both instruments prior to their use in the study. Using the SoCQ, 116 Navy instructional personnel at three locations were surveyed about five training devices. One hundred five personnel surveyed responded, equalling a 90% return rate. This survey indicated that individuals' rank/rate, age, and number of instructor duty tours have little influence on concerns about training devices. Whereas, various factors appear to enhance an individuals' attitude toward the devices' ability to improve training. These enhancement factors are: time as a Navy educator, educational degrees, time at present school, time associated with a device and formal training on a device. There was little difference detected in instructor and administrator concerns about training devices. One hundred Navy instructional personnel were surveyed to determine which interventions were perceived as effective in changing attitudes about training devices. Eighty-one percent of the questionnaires were returned. Various interventions were perceived effective in changing attitudes about training devices and were presented in this study. Interventions were perceived as having differential impact depending upon whether the instructional personnel had high self, high task, or low impact concerns. It was concluded that the revised SoCQ provided valid and reliable stages of concerns of Naval instructional personnel. The information was judged to be useful in designing strategies to improve the acceptance and utilization of an instructional device. It was also concluded that the patterns of concerns expressed by Navy instructional personnel are generally similar to patterns expressed by other educators. The key exception is that Navy instructional personnel displayed lower concerns in the area of management.