Assessing the Use of Game-Based Exercises in the Staff Attack-the-Network Course
Abstract
The U.S. Army increasingly relies on serious games as a training tool for tactical tasks. The use of game-based exercises is nonetheless a novel approach for training human-intelligence tasks. In order to determine the extent to which a virtual game-based environment provided an effective means to apply human-intelligence skill, two forms of scenario-based practical exercises were compared in the Attack the Network course. Course performance and perceptions of training were compared across students who completed traditional paper-based practical exercises and students who completed practical exercises based in the Army's Enhanced Dynamic Geo-Social Environment game-based training environment. The game-based practical exercises did no better in increasing end-of-course test scores than did traditional paper-based practical exercises. In addition, the paper-based practical exercises were perceived as more beneficial to learning and course outcomes as compared to the game-based practical exercises. These results add to the growing literature that fails to find a relative advantage of game-based training.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jun 01, 2015
- Accession Number
- ADA621958
Entities
People
- John T. Miller Ii
- Martin L. Bink
Organizations
- U.S. Army Research Institute for the Behavioral and Social Sciences