On-Line Training Feedback: Does it Help?

Abstract

Currently in the Royal Navy, any training feedback provided during a team training exercise at sea or in the full training simulator is delivered by a human instructor “as required”, with the majority of feedback provided in a post-exercise debrief. An automated embedded training system would enable the provision of feedback in real-time during a training session to be standardised, but could provide an almost unlimited amount of feedback. The aim of this research is therefore to identify the benefits of providing on-line feedback, and to develop guidelines for future advanced training systems. This paper describes work that has been carried out to identify existing feedback principles, and to evaluate their utility in the context of a complex, real-time computer-based task. A series of experiments was conducted using a simulation of elements of a Naval Anti-Air Warfare decision making task, with Naval operators as participants. This paper describes the experimental test-bed and provides an overview of the experimental programme. Preliminary results from the first experiment are reported, comparing trainee performance and retention when on-line feedback is provided, with a control condition of no feedback.