Evaluation of a Game-Based Trainer for Infantry Platoon Leader Decision Making

Abstract

A training evaluation was performed for the Rapid Decision Trainer (RDT), a computerbased simulation developed for the Infantry Officer Basic Course (IOBC). The RDT lets each participant serve as a platoon leader while executing a simulated mission in preparation for a live-fire exercise. Nineteen participants were trained with the RDT in one large group and twenty were trained in two-man buddy-teams. After the RDT training, participants completed a questionnaire, participated in a live-fire exercise, and then completed a second questionnaire. Regardless of their training condition, the participants endorsed the use of the RDT for the IOBC. They indicated the RDT had training value, they were motivated and involved during training, and the realism of simulated battlefield was adequate. However, the participants also raised a number of issues that are described in the presentation and will be investigated in future training research for desktop simulations and game-based technologies.