COMPUTER-VERIFIED TRAINING TUTORIALS FOR URBAN PEST CONTROL TRAINING

Abstract:
Participation at approved training seminars incurs costs and limits work availability for urban pest control company owners, supervisors, and service technicians. However, the continued need for training to properly control pests, and to acquire or renew a license forces pest control operators to commit resources to training seminars. The National Pest Control Association (NPCA) provided the authors with funding to develop computerverified tutorials on termites, fleas, and cockroaches. In addition, the authors developed software tutorials on many aspects of urban pest management which the University of Florida licensed to a pest control training company to distribute on a national and international basis. These programs make extensive use of graphics and VGA color photographs to teach the biology, ecology, and control of the urban pests, and pesticide labels. Pest control operators and other individuals interested in obtaining verification of training can also use test verification options built into the programs. These options provide the name of the test, the name of the student, the date the test was taken, and whether the student passed or failed. The state of Florida now allows pest control operators to earn Certified Education Units (CEUs) for recertification using some of these programs. The NPCA hopes that their programs will be the beginning of a set of nationally accepted computer- verified tutorials that state and federal agencies will accept as proof for training and recertification. These programs may be used individually or in a classroom setting. Pest control operators can use the program as a simple tutorial and as a method to earn CEUs. Final scores can be displayed, printed out, or saved to a computer file. These programs have also demonstrated their worth in basic entomology courses taught at the University of Florida. Students receiving a portion of their training through these interactive programs have provided favorable feedback to instructors. These programs are made available to students on individual and networked PCs across campus, and on the World Wide Web.