Helpful Feedback? Deriving Guidelines for Advanced Training Systems

This paper reports initial work being conducted to investigate the applicability of existing feedback principles to the provision of system generated on-line feedback in complex Naval training systems. The majority of Navy team training in the UK is currently undertaken at high fidelity shore-based trainers, although in future there may be greater emphasis on training at sea. Technologies are now becoming available which may facilitate enhanced embedded training capabilities, whereby the training system itself generates and delivers trainee feedback. This paper describes work that has been carried out to identify existing feedback principles in order that their utility can be evaluated in this context. There was found to be a multiplicity of terms used to describe similar and related concepts. A classification of feedback types relevant to individual and team training was therefore developed, based upon content and timing dimensions. This was subsequently refined to focus upon training individual taskwork in a complex Naval Anti-Air Warfare task. Both classifications are described, together with details of an ongoing experimental programme that aims to evaluate the benefits of providing on-line feedback in complex training systems.