Development of a Basic Nuclear Materials Accounting Course for the DOE Central Training Academy: Learning to Be a Trainer

The members of the Basic Nuclear Materials Accounting (BANMAC) Course Development Team (CDT), with the assistance of the DOE Central Training Academy (CTA) staff, developed a nuclear materials accounting training course using the Instructional Systems Development (ISO) process. As a novice to training course development, ISO initially seemed to be a daunting process. As the course development proceeded, the advantages of the ISO method became readily apparent. By starting the process of training design and development with specific learning objectives, the preparation of the lesson plans and course materials stays focused. The tendency to wander from the essential subject matter and explore other interesting facets of the discipline is greatly reduced. The structure provided by the ISO process makes effective testing easier. Since the ISO method centers course design on learning objectives, testing materials readily evolve from the preparation of the lesson plan. This paper chronicles the course development of the DOE CTA, Basic Nuclear Materials Accounting Course (BANMAC - MC&A 110) , and seeks to provide a nontechnical aid to the novice trainer in the application of the ISO method to training development.