Train Smart: Interactive Partnerships

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“Where are the technically trained youth who will invent the 21st century equivalent of radar?’’

Admiral Carlisle A. H. Trost, U. S. Navy, 27 July 1988

U. S. Naval Institute Seminar, San Diego, California

The sailor of the 21st century may be as different from his shipmates of the 20th century as boomers are from Boston Whalers. And what Admiral Trost has recognized is that U. S. Navy survivabil­ity in the 21st century, as well as the en­tire foundation of our national security, depend on revolutionary thinking about the ways we educate our people. This new thinking will require integrating new technologies into training.

Any organization that must reconcile advanced technology with finite dollar resources, including the Navy, must learn to accomplish its more traditional tasks, as well as new or related ones, with more efficiency and greater productivity. Im­proved training capabilities will provide a partial solution, particularly when they are wedded to current and prospective technological innovations.

Any training program that can exploit what we know about how people learn will be more effective. But how do peo­ple learn best? Most educators agree that training is most effective when it is expe­riential, active, multisensory, reinforced, linked, personal, and relevant.

But even though we have the technol­ogy to make training more powerful, tra­ditional methods continue to dominate training programs: students listen to lec­tures, get some hands-on experience, and then learn out in the field. This proclivity for on-the-job, trial-and-error training is costly, especially when today’s work­place is comprised of multimillion dollar equipment and processes. New methods for training exist that can build on tradi­tional methods of instruction to take stu­dents farther and faster, with greater comprehension and retention.

One of the most promising of these methods is laser-assisted instruction. This aptly named interactive videodisc in­struction (IVD) process weds computers to laser-read discs. The marriage can put full-motion video, sound, dynamic graphics, and incredible data banks at the student’s fingertips. Such a system has already shown promise for both military and civilian students, raising expectations about its training potential, with en­

hanced productivity and savings resulting from its creative applications.

IVD overcomes many of the shortcom­ings of the passive classroom method. Without displacing the instructor, IVD creates an environment for students to take an active part in their training.

In a generic IVD system, a student in­teracts at a work station composed of a personal computer, a laser-disc player, and an interactive monitor. The student

individua!

as well as the similarities, in training needs.          .

Because IVD tailors lessons to the ¹ dividual, it is more efficient, adapts j- cost effective, motivational, and ^resP.^_ sive. As a result, there is a dramatic * provement in lesson retention, but show that a student using an IVD ^tra,n program retains four times as much m rial as one who takes a traditional, ture-style course. The potent¹³' b^ellL’

In the Naval Academy’s language lab, as well as in museums, governmen agencies, and military installations, IVD is revolutionizing learning. This P ess offers incredible training opportunities for the Navy.

controls every image or sound presented, using a touch-sensitive screen, light-pen, mouse, or keyboard. Careful design of the course material, the software, and the hardware configuration allows students to access lesson materials at their own pace.

Because the interactive design requires the student to participate, it contributes to attention span and quality assurance, while enabling individuals to make choices about their pace and depth of training and the instructors to track stu­dent progress. This aids in developing a personalized learning algorithm that models the student’s thought process­es. Without sacrificing any of the well- known advantages of instructors or com­puters in a traditional training environ­ment, IVD capitalizes on the differences,

to the Navy are impressive. The ^ cally, IVD could cut course '^en^^tP^_reby the need for refresher courses, ¹ ^_s[Si

reducing overall Navy training

and.

while improving understanding ^a

mately, performance.

Fleet Enhancements: IVD w°^u' able sailors to become operations ^ quickly. With more people ^SP® more time at sea, the Navy would _fer to make more efficient use of ^sca j₅es sources and spend more time in ^cXL. _eSy to improve its operational prepare

ould

_en-

And more operational time

US'

ually

,duc-

in P^r0'

tivity typically leads to increased j°jj

proves readiness. An increase m y _at­'      ^asedJJ

isfaction and less turnover. All ⁰

would improve the Navy’s effectiv^cl ^ IVD will increase the adaptab'¹

158

Proceedings

/ OctoWr

latio„^an^ ^tested *ⁿ them through simu-

I

ity ^^Us further increasing the adaptabil-

'-depth branching of course mate-

■rough

'^vice-

»ovi ^{a bod}y °f information than a

The i

^e,T| allows for easy proliferation to

_Canⁿⁱⁿ8’ ^a°d of the Navy itself. Courses ihr ^exP^anc* beyond theory and example, I ,°^ugh procedural and situational simu-

“uio_n ■-pi .

Pro ' ^{ltlls ena}bles students to learn I™ Procedures, then actually practice

^aHo\v • ^^ass'^ve memory storage will rial, ' tfji course content while reducing d_etl( ⁿ§ costs. A more experienced stu- thr₀^^an move much more quickly pj_ec ~°r even bypass a particular Nr)' '^nstruction by testing out before Mete ^ ^bbc N^avy would purchase com- id_e ^Courses (and refresher courses with q_Uj_r„ | software) and use them as re- tr_adi ' Naturally, all the advantages of Jld°^na*’ ^comP^uter~assisted instruction i_0rt- ^rerna*n: record keeping, progress ^ln8' remediation, and scoring and

lotions.

multiple locations. Training centers and travel costs then become less important, since courses can be taught on board ship with personal computers and appropriate peripheral hardware and software. This would cut training costs, and would allow commands to adapt training schedules to operational schedules, planning the courses for periods of less operational stress rather than forcing students to meet rigid class schedules at distant training centers. The commands, at their conven­ience, would also have the luxury of changing students or increasing the num­ber of individuals to be trained in specific areas. Thus, the Navy could adapt to changing operational requirements with­out sacrificing training or reducing the operational complement of the ship.

The command would also enjoy the benefits of shortened response time to urgent training needs. Software and laser discs could be developed and duplicated with relative ease as necessary, thus bringing consistency and continuity of education to course materials. The ability to use the same hardware for any number of different courses, as well as for admin­istrative functions, would enable the command to train its personnel without any additional or repetitive hardware costs.

New Beginnings Through Strategic Partnerships: IVD would facilitate the partnership between subject matter ex­perts and the technical specialists. Largely because of the increasing speed, memory, and user-friendliness of com­puter hardware and software, experts in any subject can team with other experts to create cross-disciplinary approaches to training. Language experts, teachers, and specialists of all sorts can contribute to a richer training environment, customized for each trainee. This will be possible as expert systems develop and penetrate down to every training module. IVD sys­tems will then be able to access a train­ee’s entire learning history and automati­cally tailor each lesson to the individual’s

j

applications Limited Only By the Imagination

anj/he public and private sectors, as well as the

forces,

use laser-read discs coupled with com-

Ner_s •S. ess,

^:in Institution, General Motors, Bloomingdale

lJ. Users include the U. S. Geologic Survey, the &e_Ss ffopartment of Agriculture, the Library of Con- sonj_a’ , Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the Smith-

S. Air Force. Most of these have only

■nr_lrij_t ^{to ta}P the systems’ capabilities. Because of the appi|„^{e nur}nber of uses, both great and small, potential H_etL^a*^IOns are limited only by the imagination.

■ion _si'“^r ,^ln the areas of training or in related informa- ■flajo,. ^ar'ⁿ8 and retrieval, laser-read discs are making V^ts *ⁿ the way information is handled,

Ma- ^sbared, and stored.

^rel.

any

^eva_n,

training applications, all with direct or indirect

” 'c _s ^{Ce to} Navy operational goals and requirements, ^ir|te_rJ|^nie bints about what is already possible with I i_ail ^1Ve videodisc instruction (IVD).

8Uag_e ^^age Training at the Naval Academy: The Lan- ^rcnt|y ^Partment at the U. S. Naval Academy is cur- ViJmbttrked on a major effort using IVD to teach Orj„_:^sn *ang

>al

nguages. Using satellite dishes to capture

^C°W p P^r°gramming from places as distant as Mos-

^ett‘ⁿg^ete *^an§^ua§^e'^comprehension programs that are Vy ^new standards for language training around the

'’■Oriai ,^ar‘^s> ^and Mexico City, a small group of profes- “■sts ⁿ?^u*^sts Is working to build a team of IVD spe- ■W, ^Wlthin the Academy, which is producing

Nl,

^The lan

l_e| ^Jguage laboratory in Annapolis has become a P(j_n language teachers dedicated to using and

%|_ts ? technology to meet training needs. Preliminary Stig ^lnd>catc that midshipmen are increasing their lis- H'°bai ^'Prehension in less time. Given the Navy’s ■ssion, this enhanced language competence can

contribute to the performance and image of personnel overseas, to the benefit of national security interests.

►Power Plant Control Room Presimulator Training: In an effort to cut training costs and reduce time spent away from the plant, a major energy company has pro­duced and tested a power plant control room IVD presimulator program that trains new and veteran oper­ators in plant pressurization and emergency procedures. To control costs and ensure uniformity of training in must-know areas—as well as to prepare operators for costly and elaborate simulator training—the company is conducting on-the-job presimulator training using IVD.

The power company has built a small team of IVD specialists from multiple disciplines to create custom­ized training programs. Drawing on subject-matter ex­perts with years of experience, the company is preserv­ing on discs the years of hard-won knowledge that is, in many cases, dying out as the older employees retire. In a very real sense, the IVD programs allow new employees to use technology to interact instantaneously with seasoned professionals long after they have retired.

This training innovation should save hundreds of thousands of dollars, both through reduced travel time and better learning through nondestructive training ex­periences. Applications under discussion include simu­lations of major catastrophes, accelerated instruction of core material, quality control and evaluation of preven­tive maintenance programs and procedures, and proce­dures training for systems not yet off the drawing board.

►                  Negotiations and People-oriented Skills: A major

U. S. bank has experimented with IVD to teach selling and negotiations skills. Through careful design, many negotiating scenarios are captured on laser discs, dem­onstrating a range of possible successes and failures taken from real-life cases. These are then woven to-

159

'"^{8s 1} October 1988