Computer-Based Aids for Learning, Job Performance, and Decision Making in Military Applications: Emergent Technology and Challenges
Abstract
Technology-based systems for education, training, and performance aiding (including decision aiding) may pose the ultimate test for validating approaches to integrate humans with automated systems. These systems need to model students and users. The models they generate, as well as the interactions based on them, must adapt to the evolving knowledge and skills of individual students and users. Evaluation findings suggest that such adaptations are feasible, worthwhile, and cost-effective. Data drawn from many evaluations of technology-based education and training indicate overall that these systems can reduce costs by one-third and that they also can either reduce the time to achieve instructional objectives by one-third or increase achievement by one-third. The likely impact on military readiness and effectiveness suggested by these findings is significant. Similar results indicating increased personnel effectiveness and cost-savings have been found in evaluations of technology-based, performance-aiding systems. They suggest a need to determine and readjust the balance between resources allocated to training and resources allocated to performance-aiding systems. Development of sharable, reusable objects and capabilities for assembling these objects on demand and in real-time will substantially increase accessibility and reduce the costs of education, training, and performance aiding while making them asynchronously and continuously available, regardless of distance and time. Specifications and capabilities for such objects are the goals of much research and development. Some of these goals are discussed under the systems engineering categories of analysis, design, and development. The research agenda would be substantially enhanced by NATO/PfP participation, which might include development of a NATO/PfP directory of databases permitting wide dissemination and sharing of techniques and findings. (3 tables, 5 figures, 34 refs.)
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Oct 01, 2003
- Accession Number
- ADA422304
Entities
People
- John Dexter Fletcher
- Robert E. Foster
Organizations
- Institute for Defense Analyses