Trainee reactions and task performance: a study of open training in object-oriented systems development

In this study, we examine two trainee reactions: ease of learning and ease of use and their relationships with task performance in the context of object-oriented systems development. We conducted an experiment involving over 300 subjects. From that pool 72 trainees that met all of the criteria were selected for analysis in a carefully controlled study. We found that ease of learning was strongly correlated to task performance whereas ease of use was not. The finding was unexpected; ease of learning and ease of use are two overlapping concepts while their effects on task performance are very different. We offer a theoretical explanation to the paradoxical finding and its implications to the improvement of training evaluation.