Evaluation and research for technology: not just playing around.

In virtually every part of American life, the development of usable skills and knowledge is essential. Documentation of performance is needed in order to demonstrate competency in school, to acquire and maintain employment, for career advances, and especially in areas where the cost of failure is unacceptable, such as in medicine, protective services, and the military. Technology has emerged as both a context for and a solution to educating the great numbers needing to learn and to expand their repertoires. In this paper, we will discuss some of the challenges of technology-based training and education, the role of quality verification and evaluation, and strategies to integrate evaluation into the everyday design of technology-based systems for education and training.