Simulators have been identified as a vital training resource for the United States military. Compared to live training, simulators provide a cost-effective and safe alternative that can simulate a wide variety of training tasks, procedures, and exercises while minimizing the use of resources. With advancements in technology, simulators now offer increasingly sophisticated training platforms that can be integrated and augmented with other technology, such as virtual reality and AI. However, as the military moves further into a digital training landscape and live training continues to be replaced by simulator training, it is key for leaders to understand the level of training fidelity simulators provide. For example, poor training fidelity may be indicative of elements of simulator training that fail to adequately provide training experiences compared to high-fidelity training environments, such as live training or more robust simulators. Understanding such deficiencies could inform areas of training that may need to be augmented and/or where to invest in simulator improvements (e.g., upgrades to technology, scenarios, realism, etc.). Further, in addition to understanding poor training fidelity, it is also important to identify areas of adequate or exceptional training fidelity that can continue to be trained with a high degree of confidence. Simply put, understanding both simulator limitations and strengths are critical for developing and sustaining well-trained warfighters. As a result, the following paper outlines a systematic approach to simulator fidelity evaluations that leverages subjective assessments of trainees as well as presents findings from a fidelity evaluation from a sample of United States Air Force (USAF) operators. In addition to findings from the fidelity evaluation, the following paper presents best practices and critical considerations when examining simulator training fidelity that are generalizable across the simulator training community at large.
Keywords
ASSESSMENT, FIDELITY, MILITARY LEARNING, SIMULATIONS, TRAINING
Additional Keywords