Evaluation of Decision Aids for Training Device Design *

Abstract

Newly developed cost and training effectiveness models are being used by training developers to control costs and to insure systematic training device design. The problem for the user is how to select the appropriate design aid. Unfortunatly, there are no quick objective methods on which to base this selection. The selection decision for a particular application can be made based on three issues. The first issue is how the design aid addresses device instructional and fidelity features. The second issue is how the design aid formalizes the device design decision process. The third issue is to compare the systems on their ease of implementation. Two decision aids are analytically evaluated on their approach to training device design: OSBATS (Optimization of Simulation Based Training Systems), which is in prototype development, and ASTAR (Automated Simulator Test and Assessment Routine), which is ready to be fielded. These decision aids are based on differing theoretical approaches to formalizing training device design. OSBATS's taxonomy of fidelity features relates instructional features to individual tasks. OSBATS contains a tradeoff function which uses historical cost and benefit values for individual features. It uses large amounts of detailed information to drive its algorithms. ASTAR is a management tool which organizes the diverse interests of a design group to address design issues. ASTAR obtains judgments about instructional approach and device similarity for each training objective. ASTAR facilitates communication between members of a design team and insures a consensus on the issues.