Virtual Sand Table: Intelligent Tutoring for Field Artillery Training

摘要

This report examines the application of an intelligent tutoring system (ITS) for use in training a complex skill during the Field Artillery Captains Career Course. Based on a technology transfer agreement between the U. S. Army Training and Doctrine Command and the U.S. Army Research institute for the Behavioral and Social Sciences, an ITS originally developed for the Navy was adapted for use in a sand table exercise. The exercise required students to deploy multiple launch rocket system assets during a reconnaissance and selection of position task. The task was conventionally taught using miniature replications of vehicles and launchers on a large table of sand. An ITS version of the exercise, called the Virtual Sand Table, replicated the training with the added advantage of informative feedback and computer-based coaching during the exercise. A comparison group (n=209) used the conventional sand table and the treatment group (n=105) used the Virtual Sand Table during a four-hour training exercise. Results, as measured by a hands-on performance test, indicated superior performance by the Virtual Sand Table treatment group, with an effect size of just over one standard deviation.