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Embedded and Collaborative Training Bring Users up to Speed

Imagine that war is brewing between the obscure European nations of Elbonia and Patella, and you (a trained all-source intelligence analyst) have just been deployed to the Air Operations Center:

"Welcome to Air Operations Center, Lieutenant," says your new commanding officer. "As you know, since last week's air attack we are enforcing a United Nations-imposed no-fly zone over southern Elbonia and northern Patella while diplomats work to defuse the situation. You will be supporting the mission-planning team. Major Paine will escort you to your workstation. You need to get up to speed quickly. Your predecessor rotated out two days ago, and the mission planners are becoming increasingly concerned about the lack of current intel data."

A few minutes later you are sitting at your computer. To your dismay, you discover the Air Operations Center is running the Intelligence Fusion Toolkit, a tool that was entering development while you were going through analyst training. The Intelligence Fusion Toolkit looks completely different from the legacy system you were trained to operate. Lives are at stake, and the clock is ticking. Where do you start?

Despite your better judgment, you pull up the system's Help menu. To your surprise, you see Training Environment listed as one of the choices. What could that be?

Embedded Training
Workers today, like our hypothetical lieutenant above, perform ever-larger portions of their jobs using complex, specialized information systems. In the military, trained operators' workloads are increasing because of declining budgets, frequent personnel rotations, promotions, and attrition. Classroom instruction at remote training facilities is becoming impractical and unaffordable.

One solution to providing affordable operator training in the workplace is to augment Command, Control, Communications, Computers, and Intelligence (C4I) applications with embedded training systems: task-oriented training tools integrated into C4I applications. The mission of an embedded training system is to bring users quickly up to basic proficiency in using C4I applications to do their jobs. After being used during an initial training period, the embedded training system remains available for review and refresher training.

MITRE is developing embedded training system prototypes that employ intelligent computer-assisted instruction (ICAI) techniques. ICAI systems are Artificial Intelligence applications that use detailed computer models of expert behavior and individual students' learning progress to tailor instruction to each learner's needs and abilities. Training provided by an ICAI-based embedded training system is highly interactive. Trainee operators practice realistic problem-solving tasks on the C4I application (in a non-operational mode) with guidance and feedback from the training system. The training system maintains an appropriate level of challenge, passing students quickly through material they comprehend, and focusing attention on their weak areas.

ICAI systems act like personal tutors or coaches, and can teach quickly and effectively, often better than conventional lecture-based classroom instruction. Studies comparing ICAI to classroom instruction have shown that ICAI systems can reduce training times by up to one-third, or improve student performance by up to a letter grade. For these reasons, and because ICAI systems can provide "anytime, anywhere" training at low cost per student, MITRE believes that ICAI-based embedded training systems will significantly improve C4I operator training in the field.

Collaborative Learning
Educational research has shown learning improves significantly when students participate in learning activities with small groups of peers. Students in small groups encourage each other to ask questions, explain and justify their opinions, articulate their reasoning, and elaborate and reflect upon their knowledge. Communicating that way motivates students and improves understanding and retention. Another MITRE research effort is working to improve distance learning and just-in-time training techniques by combining ICAI and collaborative computing technologies.

To create a classroom environment, MITRE is building a virtual group problem-solving environment for students to engage in active learning exercises from a distance by taking advantage of the connectivity afforded by the Internet and Intelink (the intelligence community's classified version of the Internet). Students communicate with each other through video, audio, and text chat links over a network while working together to solve problems. They conduct problem-solving activities using shared, collaborative software tools (e.g., a shared "whiteboard" drawing tool). If one student uses a tool to contribute to the group solution, all the other students' tools are automatically updated to reflect the first student's changes. Collaborative tools enrich learning in a setting that encourages students to communicate with their peers while solving problems. As a result, students become engaged and active learners. Using a collaborative learning system to reach out to others for help, a worker can succeed despite a lack of local expertise, peers, and instructors. Within such a system, our dismayed lieutenant in the Air Operations Center could connect to other users of the Intelligence Fusion Toolkit in locations around the globe to get just-in-time instruction and get help on operating that tool.

Conclusion
The information revolution is fueling changes in the workplace at an unprecedented rate, and this rate of change is threatening to overwhelm conventional education and training approaches. Fortunately, advanced instructional technologies like embedded training and collaborative learning environments can help C4I operators in the field adapt to these changes. Embedded training systems teach the mechanics and reasoning behind the C4I application, while computer-supported collaborative learning tools increase interaction with remote experts, instructors and peers. Individually or in combination, availability of these technologies in the field could make the difference between a system operator who "just muddles through" and one who achieves mission objectives efficiently and effectively.

For more information, please contact Brant Cheikes using the employee directory.

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