Training is a fundamental input to defence capability and each year military units invest significant resources on training service personnel. To ensure this training is effective, it is important that the design, implementation and evaluation processes are based on best practices. Much has been written on the science of training including considerations for conducting training research in organisational settings. Despite this literature, our experience has highlighted the need for ongoing education of practitioners within the training and simulation community. The aim of this paper is to provide practical guidance for professionals involved in designing, implementing and evaluating training in military settings. While there are many excellent handbooks and articles available on training evaluation and simulation-based training, they are usually quite detailed or focused on specific aspects of training and simulation, and not well suited to professionals who may be relatively new to the area and seeking a quick introduction to key issues. To address this gap, this paper outlines key issues in the form of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) within each of the five stages of the commonly used ADDIE model of training. The contents of the paper are drawn from the published literature, as well as the authors’ experiences of working in training and simulation research for over 15 years in military settings. We hope this ‘primer’ will become a practical resource for training designers, developers, instructors, device manufacturers, and researchers. The paper concludes with some suggestions for high-pay off research in the training and simulation community. This paper is important to the community because it provides an overview of key issues involved in conducting training and simulation research, and reinforces best practices associated with the design, implementation and evaluation of training systems; all of which is presented in a reader-friendly FAQ format.
Education
Conducting Training and Simulation Research: A Primer for Practitioners
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