Training is often consumed in the classroom or remotely as a one size fits all structure with limited opportunity and/or costly simulations to practice hands-on skills in contextualized situations. The ability to practice skills contextually and obtain feedback to instill muscle memory, embody actions, and formulate critical thinking is needed now to assure deterrence and readiness in highly contested environments. By utilizing an integrated training approach of augmented, virtual, and mixed reality technologies, eXtended Reality (XR) can provide a contextualized virtual environment (which links the learning of foundational skills to practical scenarios and operational stressors) with augmented overlays and real-world objects (to scaffold instruction via multimodal cues tied to the real-world) to create a fully immersive and highly engaging training environment that fosters force readiness.  When XR training applications are coupled with automated content generation and computer vision models that facilitate automated detection, tracking, and analysis an opportunity exists to provide psychomotor practice and validation in a highly engaging environment leading to significant proficiency gains in both primary and refresher training.

XR training applications must be accessible, adaptable, and adoptable. It is crucial when developing XR training solutions to evaluate the utility of the novel contextually based design elements and embodied interactions afforded by XR. XR does not have a proven, common mental map for the way users expect to interact with XR content especially when spatial movement is required. It is critical to build systems with interaction capabilities that optimize users’ expected interaction paradigm. Applications downloaded to mobile or head worn devices enable readily available consumption and action-oriented, learner-centered solutions that are very different from traditional classroom and remote training.

This Emerging and Innovative Concepts tutorial will dive into the key elements of XR immersive training leveraging andragogically-based activities, formative assessments, feedback measures, and documentation ingestion to infer trainee proficiency by providing insights into: Key drivers and barriers of accessible, adaptive, and adoptable XR training; methodologies and strategies for creating accessible, adaptable, and adoptable XR training; value-added case studies with end-user feedback; and user-centered guidelines for designing, developing and implementing XR training systems. By the end of this tutorial, attendees will be able to implement effective techniques for developing and implementing accessible, adaptable, and adoptable XR training applications based on experience and lessons learned from military ground operations, maintenance, and medical domains.     

Keywords
ADAPTIVE;AUGMENTED AND VIRTUAL REALITY (AR/VR);BEST PRACTICES;BLENDED TRAINING;COMBAT CASUALTY CARE;EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES;ENHANCING PERFORMANCE;HEAD-MOUNTED DISPLAYS;IMMERSIVE;MIXED REALITY;MOBLIE TECHNOLOGY;PROFICIENCY;SCENARIOS;VIRTUAL

Additional Keywords
Adoptive, Accessible, Extended Reality