Online Behavior Modeling: An Effective and Affordable Software Training Method

Abstract

Organizations need effective and affordable software training. In face-to-face settings, behavior modeling is an effective, but expensive, training method. Can behavior modeling be employed effectively, and more affordably, for software training in the online environment? An experiment was conducted to compare the effectiveness of online behavior modeling with that of face-to-face behavior modeling for software training. Results indicate that online behavior modeling and face-to-face behavior modeling provide essentially the same outcomes in terms of knowledge near transfer, immediate knowledge far transfer, delayed knowledge far transfer, perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness, and satisfaction. Observed differences were not significant, nor were their patterns consistent, despite sufficient power in the experimental design to detect meaningful differences, if any were present. These results suggest that organizations should consider online behavior modeling as a primary method of software training.