Optimising instructional strategies: a benchmarked experiential system for training

Abstract

The problem of developing and delivering feedback concerning teamwork in ill-defined domains is addressed. Three strategies are combined to train using feedback: (1) mathematical optimisation techniques are leveraged to rapidly devise solutions to the complex problems of asset selection and scheduling in military mission planning and execution and those optimised solutions are used as feedback; (2) trainee attention is focused on specific principles that humans can learn from these optimised solutions; (3) the profound human capability to go beyond what is told and to learn from observation is leveraged. An experiment that assessed the impact of these strategies on human learning in a team command and control task is reported and implications for simulation-based training are stated.

Keywords:

• instructional strategy
• training
• teams

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the Air Force Office of Scientific Research, particularly Dr Jerome Busemeyer and his predecessor Dr Robert Sorkin, for orienting and funding this effort. We thank the participants in the study for aiding in this inquiry. Finally, we thank colleagues David Clark and Bruce Skarin of Aptima for their modelling efforts and for implementing the optimal feedback, and Ganesh Alakke and Shruti Narakesari of Wright State University for managing the data collection. The opinions expressed here are not necessarily those of the Air Force Office of Scientific Research or the Department of Defense.