UNHCR CBT Review
By Carl Holtz and Carol Proenza
Review Questions
After spending over an hour being "read to" about all the functions/concepts of the UNHCR, I would say that this CD does an effective job as an overview. It’s form however, is tedious. It tries with fairly good success to build positive attitudes by pointing out the benefits of the Supply Chain for the individual and the customers and by providing some positive statements at the end of the program about the importance of each individual in the process.
The length of the CBT is exhausting. Seventy minutes of being "read to" would put anyone to sleep. The length is probably appropriate, but more interaction would help maintain the user’s interest and attention.
As an introduction to the new process, the depth of information was terrific; there were a lot of items discussed and a lot of material presented. The basic concepts were repeated and reinforced several times throughout the program which is an important technique when presenting new concepts.
The organization of the material into the five topics made sense and the order in which they were presented followed a logical sequence. Throughout each section, the authors also seemed to do a good job of sequencing the information.
Depending on the involvement of the CBT user in the UN’s supply process, the person may not find this CBT very motivating. Involvement was acceptable, especially for people who have limited computer skills, but we found it hard to be fully engaged. The "dry" manner in which the information is presented is a major concern. The program lacked variety and relied on the same approach for each module. Since each module discussed a different aspect of the new system, it would make sense to provide a different approach (and a more interactive one) for each section.
Taking a more practical approach to the information rather than a theoretical approach may have also made it more interesting. Perhaps following an order through the new process from beginning to end may have put it on a level to which the user could better relate. Discussions of how the new process is different from the old at each phase could be given along with the benefits of the changes to the workers and customers.
While there were limited types of testing (mostly matching and multiple choice) and no possibility of re-take once "done" button is selected, it did cover the relevant items that the CBT was attempting to teach the end-user.
The authors did try to build in some variety and interest in the different ways the answers to the questions were to be completed. However, they could have used the questions to reinforce the benefits and practical applications of the new process instead of questioning them on the principles of each topic.
We question whether this information was too "over-written" (wordy) or too technically written for the intended audience. Since the authors presented the same information both verbally and in text, it would have been much more effective to present the text in shorter bullets. Instead they presented almost an exact text of the narrator so that the user is forced to divide their attention between the narrative and reading the text. This defeated the purpose of reinforcing the material by two methods (auditory and visual). It also made remembering the major points in the section difficult and confusing.
The authors did a good job of setting up the screens so that even inexperienced computer users would know how to use the program. Reinforcing this with verbal instructions and providing a brief tutorial in the beginning on conventions used in the program and time required was also a good approach for the intended audience.
There was some volume quirks (voice loudness and softness variation). The technique of alternating the narrator from a man to a woman was helpful in reducing the monotony of hearing one voice throughout.
The pictures are adequate, but uninspiring and they are too small on the screen to be seen clearly. The graphics are fine. We suggest using more animation or video and actual gifs or jpegs of the documents referred to in the CBT, (which were not included).
There was no purpose for the aeroplane button to be displayed during most of the program. Clicking on it only required one to click on a return button instead of seeing something building as the user was lead to believe in the beginning instructions. In fact during the second post-test question, the user was instructed by the narrator to click on the aeroplane button; however, the only option the user had was to press a return key. It would have been better to show this button only at the beginning and end of the program when pressing it would have produced something exciting.
In the first half of the program, despite the fact that most of the buttons were highlighted, the user could not click on them until the narrative was completed. For someone going back to review a section, it made it time consuming to have to listen to parts that they might want to skip. The problem did not exist in the latter part of the program.
It would also have been convenient to have a "pause" button in case the user is in the middle of a screen and needs to stop momentarily (say to answer the phone). The only options when returning to the program are to repeat portions already heard.
