Why the Troubleshooting Skills
Programs Work

What makes good skills training?
Goal of the Troubleshooting Skills Series
Our overall approach
Specific Techniques used in these programs
Evaluation and Feedback

The Troubleshooting Skills Series is a series of three computer based programs that are designed to improve the electrical troubleshooting skills of persons using the program. The programs in this series are: Troubleshooting - Basic Techniques, Troubleshooting - Control Circuits, and Troubleshooting - Motor Controls.

Our goal was to develop the most effective tool for teaching electrical troubleshooting skills. These programs are winners of several awards and we constantly get feedback from our customers stating how their troubleshooting skills have improved.

The following text describes our approach to developing the Troubleshooting Skills Series and some of the training methodology used in the various sections.

What makes good skills training? back to top

Consider the following famous quotations:

The only source of knowledge is experience.
-Albert Einstein

I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand.
-Confucius

It has long been recognized that the hands on approach is one of the best ways to learn a skill. Another key quality of good training is the Focus. When teaching a skill, the focus should be on “What should the student DO” – not – “What should the student KNOW”.

This basic process is a very common practice. Take, for example, someone learning a sport:

First of all you must determine which specific skill you are going to learn. It may be to throw a curve ball, block a side kick, catch a pass, etc.;
This skill will then need to be demonstrated. For example, the coach may demonstrate “how to throw a curve ball”;
Next you get to try this and the coach provides feedback.
You try it again and get additional feedback;
As you continue to practice, you will receive feedback in a couple of forms. First of all you will be able to see if "the curveball you threw" actually curved. You will also get feedback from the coach of what changes you need to make in order to "throw a better curve ball";
This process continues as long as you want to improve your curveball.

So what makes good skills training?

Here is a summary of the Key elements:

Focus on the performance, not the knowledge
Demonstrate how to perform the desired skills
Provide ample opportunity to practice the skill
Provide continuous feedback as the skill is practiced
Evaluate the skill and provide feedback
Repeat 3, 4, and 5 until the skill is mastered

Goal of the Troubleshooting Skills Series back to top

So now lets look at what the student is going to learn as they work through the Troubleshooting Skills Series.

The Goal:

To learn to safely and effectively troubleshoot malfunctioning electrical systems.

More specifically the student will learn to:

Using schematics, determine the operation of an electrical system;
Using a connection wiring diagram (CWD), identify the physical location of the various devices used in the electrical system;
Using a CWD, determine the how the circuit is actually wired;
Develop a systematic approach to troubleshoot electrical systems;
using a schematic diagram, determine problem areas within an electrical system by observation combined with circuit analysis;
Using a meter, determine which circuit components are defective.

Our overall approachback to top

The process described in the section "What makes good skills training", is the model we used for this series of programs.

In the previous section we identified what we want the student to learn. However, demonstrating and practicing on real electrical equipment is not an option. There are many reasons for this. Some of the issues are:

Safety - Troubleshooting is can be a hazardous skill since in many cases, you will need to troubleshoot live electrical circuits.
Opportunity - Generally there are not a lot of opportunities to practice on the real equipment and if so, the faults will not be diverse enough to provide an adequate variety of faults. And if equipment does fail in a real situation. there is usually to much importance on getting the equipment back in service quickly as opposed to using the situation for practice.
Cost of Failure - If you are not able to solve the fault, or if you mistakenly replace a working piece of equipment the system may be out of service for an excessive amount of time at an unnecessarily high cost.
Feedback - Due to the nature of the job, adequate coaching and feedback may not available.

To address the above issues as well as others, Simutech chose to use simulations to teach how to troubleshoot electrical circuits.

These simulations were designed to model electrical circuits accurately and provide typical tools that the troubleshooter would use on the job. These simulations are able to provide the other key elements of a good training program: realistic demonstrations, ample opportunity for practice, and continuous feedback throughout the use of these programs. They also have the following additional advantages:

Demonstrations

You can do many things with a simulation that you cannot do on real equipment. This allows you to explore equipment behavior under conditions that you can’t do on real equipment. For example you can see how the circuit behaves under normal operating conditions as well during malfunctions. You can even see what would happen when certain safety rules are broken.

Practice

Troubleshooting is a skill that must be developed and maintained. These troubleshooting simulators provide an unlimited amount of practice allowing students to develop highly effective troubleshooting skills. They also provide additional practice allowing for skill improvement and maintenance.
They also allow experimentation with different troubleshooting methods. You can try different approaches to determine the effectiveness of each method.

Feedback

First of all these simulators provide feedback on your troubleshooting results. If you replace faulty component(s) or remove wire ends without reconnecting them while solving a fault, the simulation will then operate appropriately. This is one form of feedback – seeing the results of your troubleshooting steps.
The simulators also monitor all activities done within the simulation. They provide feedback when the student breaks a safety rule, and provide tips when taking meter readings. They even monitor time and dollars spent while solving the fault and compare it against built-in standards.

Safety

You can operate the simulation in safety (no worry about injury like on real equipment). The simulations also allow the student to learn safe work practices before troubleshooting real equipment.

Reinforces proper procedures

Many work procedures are built into the simulations. Most apply to safety regulations but there are others such as meter reading techniques. While working with the simulators, work procedures are constantly being reinforced with feedback from the simulator.

For more information about the simulations please see simulation features.

Other notes about our approach.

These programs don’t just check a students knowledge, they check actual performance. Once the student has completed the Series you can be assured that they can troubleshoot electrical systems.
The programs were designed for the beginner as well as the experienced tradesperson. For the beginner, they would typically work their way through from start to finish. The simulations provide as much practice as necessary for the student to develop these skills. The experienced tradesperson can use these programs brush up on their skills and may start at any level. The feedback from the program can be used to identify weak areas in their troubleshooting skills and then offer more practice for improvement.
The three programs vary in difficulty level and are designed to be worked through sequentially. The troubleshooting concepts are built upon as you work through each of the programs.
The faults are grouped by complexity. Generally a beginner would start at the basic level and work their way up. Experienced persons can choose a fault from any difficulty level for practice purposesl.
“These programs really make you think!” We often hear this comment from users. You can’t repair the faults by trial and error – they are just too complex. This forces the student to constantly analyze the circuit to determine exactly what is wrong.

Specific Techniques used in these programs back to top

The following highlights some of the more specific techniques used to accomplish each of the objectives described in the section “Goal of the Troubleshooting Skills Series” earlier in this document.

Determine the operation of an electrical system

The circuit operation is explained through animation and narration.
The student can operate the simulated electrical system under normal conditions (i.e., no faults). Here they will be see how the circuit controls affect the behavior of the system. Meter readings can also be taken as the circuit operates. Both these methods help to provide a more in-depth understanding of the circuit operation.
Once the student begins to troubleshoot actual faults they will learn even more about the behavior of the circuit and what reading to expect when it malfunctions.
There are dozens of faults available for each program. This provides enough practice to really understand the operation of this type of circuit.

Develop a systematic approach to troubleshooting

The 5 step approach is described using text and graphics to show the approach.
The program guides the student through several faults using the 5 step troubleshooting approach. This portion is done on the simulator. The technique used walks the user through the 5 step approach using a question and feedback approach. The student is asked to make observations, analyze the operation of the circuit, take meter readings, and evaluate their results. Each question has an appropriate feedback depending on what answer the user provides. You can think of the process in terms of a journey person coaching the apprentice through this troubleshooting approach.
Once the student begins to “Test their Skill” the simulator provides feedback as they solve faults, and once they have completed a fault, provides an overall evaluation of their results.
In order to complete the program the student must complete all faults successfully. Due to the complexity of many of the faults, the student will need to use a systematic troubleshooting approach in order to successfully solve all faults.

Using a meter to determine defective components

The “Using the Meter” section describes various meter techniques for solving different types of faults.
In the guided troubleshooting section the student is coached through the process of taking meter readings.
When troubleshooting the circuit, the simulation monitors the use of the meter and provides tips if the user is not following proper methods. If the meter is used unsafely, safety warning are given.
The bottom line is that the student must take readings in appropriate locations and use this information to determine which component(s) is defective. The meter must be used correctly to solve the faults.

Determine location and wiring of devices used in the electrical system

With these simulators you troubleshoot on visual representation of the actual equipment as opposed to schematic diagrams.
This process requires the use of a connection wiring diagram (CWD) to determine the location of components within the equipment.
There are three programs in the series. In the first program the CWD is draw similar to the schematic providing an easy reference from schematic to CWD. In the second program the circuit is much more complex but still contained to one control box. The concept of wire numbers are added. The third program introduces additional components outside the main control box adding one more concept to the CWD.
The process of determining wire and component locations is covered in the guided faults. This process is an interactive demonstration of walking the user through the complete troubleshooting process on each of the guided faults.

Evaluation and Feedback back to top

Each program contains several faults to be solved. These faults are grouped by difficulty into several levels. To troubleshoot a fault the student selects a fault level and a random fault is provided.

In order to successfully complete the fault, the student must repair it leaving the circuit in fully operational order, meeting the following criteria:

No Safety errors were made
No unnecessary components were replaced
The fault was solved within an allotted amount of time
The fault was solved under budget (less than the allotted amount of dollars)

If the fault is successfully completed meeting the above criteria, it is marked complete and taken out of the pool of faults. If it did not meet the criteria, it would be marked incomplete and left in the pool of faults.

The next fault would again be chosen randomly from the level selected and this would continue until all faults are marked complete.

The student may take as many attempts as they need to solve the faults. Once they have all been successfully completed, a certificate of completion can be printed out.

In addition to providing feedback while troubleshooting a fault, feedback is also provided at various levels.

For each fault attempt, whether successful or not, feedback is provided. It identifies which criteria was not met, and provides suggestions on improvements. It also provides a detailed list of every step made during troubleshooting.
For each completed fault the program provides a summary of the performance for that fault. It shows how many attempts and what types of errors where made (such as safety, wrong components, and too much time).
The program also provides an overall summary report of the status, and provides a chart indicating where the student had the most trouble (based on fault level and type of errors).

This evaluation and feedback is very useful to the user but is also useful to an instructor when used within a course. From this the instructor can review processes that a user makes and provide additional feedback.

Scoring

The programs provides an optional scoring feature that looks at a number of factors to produce a score. It takes into account the number of attempts and how many and what type of errors were made. This score can be shown on the student's report but it is not factored into whether the program is complete.

Hopefully this provides a little insight into our approach, the training methodologies used and "why these programs are so effective".