Defining Tailored Training Approaches for Army Institutional Training
Abstract
The Army places a premium upon effective and efficient training. However, what constitutes effective and/or efficient training varies from group to group and individual to individual. For decades researchers have explored the extent to which training quality can be improved by tailoring training, defined as assessing salient individual differences and assigning learners to learning conditions based on those differences. Feasible tailored training research in Army contexts, however, requires an understanding of the academic research in tailored training, a grasp of which methods of tailoring are (in)effective and under what conditions, and an understanding of how differences between Army institutional training settings and academic research settings and populations might impact the generalizability of results. This report summarizes the research literature and determines the major areas of tailored training research. These areas are ability grouping, learning in small groups, tutoring, microadaptation, learning styles, and aptitude-treatment interactions (ATI). The report then determines what types of tailored training are most effective and under what conditions. Of the six areas, only learning styles was deemed ineffective. Each of the remaining areas demonstrated significant tailored training effects. The report provides suggestions for tailored training research with near-term applicability in Army settings. Suggestions for near-term applicable tailored training include focusing on small groups, microadaptation in one-on-one remedial training settings, and ATI research. In ATI, the critical aptitude is prior knowledge. Emphasis is placed on first experimentally assessing the extent and nature of ATI in Army settings and then verifying those findings in classroom settings.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Mar 01, 2013
- Accession Number
- ADA578565
Entities
People
- Jean L. Dyer
- Peter S. Schaefer
Organizations
- U.S. Army Research Institute for the Behavioral and Social Sciences