A principal component of the vision of future simulation based training is the collaboration of distributed instructor teams (Walwanis Nelson, Owens, Smith, & Bergondy-Wilhelm, 2003). The members of such teams are expected to coordinate and integrate the planning, control, and debriefing of an exercise while residing in physically different locations (Fowlkes, et al., 2004). In the absence of a shared team environment, we suggest that members of distributed teams will be highly dependent on a sophisticated interfacing system such as team-shared, multi-functional timelines. Thus, there is a need for specific guidance for the design of Graphic User Interface (GUI) solutions (Nosek, 2001).

This paper presents solutions for GUI design based on an analysis of the impact of distributed team environments on individual cognition. We suggest that minimal social interaction and perceptual limitations are likely to exert harmful effects on memory performance. Consequently, key instructor tasks (planning, monitoring, and debriefing) are likely to be affected at the individual instructor level and lead to performance degradation of the instructor team. Based on a review and reappraisal of cognitive science, we present a three-part examination, including a classification scheme for timelines as a team-ready, low-workload GUI tool that has the potential to amend individual and team effects of Distributed Asynchronous Team Environments (DATEs).