Currently, the Department of Defense is procuring the most sophisticated weapons systems in the history of this country. Unfortunately, this is resulting in a rather serious problem in that current technological developments are vastly outpacing educational systems approaches. Studies reveal that a wide gap is becoming evident between the skills possessed by the high school graduates and their ability to deal with complex weapons systems. From this, it can be deduced that increased emphasis must be placed upon the design and development of educational and training methodologies for these systems. Innovative and motivating training data, which includes everything from simple handbooks to complicated scenarios, must be provided by the contractors concurrently with the piece of equipment. In addition, this data must meet the needs of the target audience in the military today.

Ideally, these materials are to be designed in compliance with the Instructional Systems Development (ISD) model and must meet specifications required by Data Item Descriptions (DIDs) which vary from contract to contract. In addition, whenever possible these materials should be performance-based and criterion referenced.

Unfortunately, past experience has shown that many initial deliverable items which are being produced under contract to the government are less than adequate training tools and do not meet the basic requirements of the DIDs or the ISD model. There exists many possible reasons for this inadequacy ranging from poorly written specifications, and thus different interpretations, to a lack of expertise in educational foundations and technical writing. From a review of various training packages delivered by several contractors, one can conclude that although contractor personnel who develop training material possess a great deal of technical expertise and subject matter knowledge, many do not apply the fundamental skills of education theory and technical writing. This results in poorly written training deliverables and ineffective communication concerning educational requirements.

This paper will highlight and investigate the problems that the authors have experienced in the area of evaluation and acceptance of technical weapons systems training material. It will also offer suggestions as to what government contractors, as well as the government, may do in order to produce and deliver a better quality product in a much more cost-effective and expeditious manner.