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Anacapa Sciences, Inc. is designing, developing,
and field-testing SAMEPAGE training under the sponsorship of the Army
Research Institute; our instructional validation and evaluation efforts
are being supported at selected Army installations. As a prototype
system, SAMEPAGE includes four phases: Initial Instruction, Team SU
Skill Training, a Practice Scenario, and an Evaluation Scenario. Each
of these phases builds on the others, as knowledge and skills are
combined and incorporated into team member repertoires. Team members
are then readily able to transfer the knowledge/skills they acquired
to subsequent phases and, ultimately, real-world team and mission
environments of all kinds-especially with the benefit of takeaway
products, or job aids, that help prompt team SU skills in the absence
of formal training environments. The SAMEPAGE training system is expected
to have many positive applications throughout the training and career
life cycles of today's soldiers.
Initial Instruction. After team members are introduced, formal
instruction commences with a discussion of the SAMEPAGE, computer-based
delivery system and the role of the instructor/facilitator. Trainees
are then shown a brief video clip on the importance of SU. The next
two segments consume the bulk of initial instruction. The "Meta-content"
segment is derived from our Basic/Dynamic Model of Shared Understanding,
where seven critical dimensions of team SU have been distinguished
Yet to achieve SU more deliberately and proactively, team members
will then learn about six techniques that are expected to accelerate
SU acquisition along the seven critical dimensions.
Team SU Skill Training. Team members receive hands-on practice
with six SU techniques. Through a "simulated" OPORD and
team member role packets, trainees first learn about a situation/mission,
that provides the context for skill training. Teams engage in skill
training as they assume team lead, intelligence, maneuvers, logistics,
and civilian analysis roles. Under the guidance of an instructor/facilitator,
they proceed through an organized flow of exercises that is intended
to achieve SU about the situation, mission, and targeted dimensions
of the team itself.
Practice Scenario. SAMEPAGE training now ascends to a full-blown,
simulated mission scenario in which teams receive an OPORD, team member
role packets, and other supporting mission materials (e.g., maps,
diagrams, photos, messages, etc) throughout the scenario. The exact
team type and roles will change somewhat from the Team SU Skill Training
Phase. Team members are led through a structured, mission pre-brief
in order quickly to synchronize SU about the situation, mission, and
team-all of which are intended to position them for team/mission success.
Evaluation Scenario. Prototype instructional systems like SAMEPAGE
require careful evaluation to ensure that instructional objectives
are met, and to determine whether expected team behaviors actually
occur as a result of training procedures. This phase of the project
will compare a group of trainees that receive SAMEPAGE instruction
to an appropriately designed control condition, to draw meaningful
conclusions about the effectiveness and efficiency of training. Both
groups will be exposed to a highly scripted mission scenario comprised
of two 10-minutes vignettes. Characteristics of this scenario will
resemble those of the training scenario, and there will be assigned
roles and tasks to accomplish.
Takeaway Products. These products are tangible outputs of the
SAMEPAGE system that trainees can take with them at the conclusion
of training. Their use is intended to promote the direct, explicit
transfer of SU to mission, field, or other training environments.
These products may include checklists, job aids, scorecards, diagnostic
reports, etc. that prompt or make SU more likely in these contexts.
View Model of Team Shared Understanding
and SAMEPAGE Instructional Processes and Effects
View Example Screen Display from SAMEPAGE
Send
an email to Project Director Alan Spiker
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