Although the Army recognizes the critical role that effective teamwork plays in supporting mission outcomes, monitoring and providing feedback to staff organizations on teamwork remains challenging. The Army traditionally relies on self-report surveys and the expertise of observer/coach/trainers (OCTs) who mentor team-based organizations throughout collective training exercises and prepare after action reviews (AARs). While OCTs provide invaluable insight into unit strengths and weaknesses, they face multiple challenges, including (1) minimal access to and review of collaboration taking place via digital systems, and (2) reduced numbers of OCTs available for observation and coaching due to resource cuts. To address these challenges, a system was created for OCTs that collects, analyzes, and displays unit communications information from email, chat, and face-to-face interactions. The system dashboard allows OCTs to see how and when unit members are communicating; how events affect their communications (e.g., amount, timing, and content); and how communications vary across groups and time. This paper describes the exploratory use of the tool within the context of a single Army Staff training exercise that took place over 10 days. Observations regarding usability, utility, and validity of the tool were collected, with particular emphasis placed on the display of social network graphs calculated from wearable sensors capturing face-to-face interactions. Overall, OCT feedback indicated that the dashboard was intuitive and useful, and the information provided was consistent with OCT observations. OCTs also referenced the tool for specific time periods and interactions during the exercise. Additionally, social network diagrams were used as “hard data� for individual coaching sessions and the final AAR. This research supports the use of existing communications data for assessment and feedback in training.
Visualization of Communications Data for Enhanced Feedback in Army Staff Training
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