ABSTRACT
This chapter reviews the models that have been forward to sketch out this area of research and assesses the applicability of Kao’s model in light of current educational experiences. It outlines models that have been presented as a framework for educational ergonomics, and considers the extent to which one of the earliest, that proposed by Kao, is still applicable. E. R. Robson considered a systems approach to the design of school buildings, when he advised architects to consider the users, the tasks they would have to undertaken and the effects of the quality of the building on the occupants and their sense of well being. In his 1976 paper, Kao outlined an interdisciplinary field of educational ergonomics that would lead to a systems approach to educational effectiveness. He saw educational institutions as essentially “work systems where the objectives include effective and successful dissemination of knowledge and cultivation of intellectual sophistication”.
