Training Program Evaluation for a Prototype Command, Control & Communication System: Soldier Requirements, Performance & Feedback

An Army training program was evaluated in order to present recommendations for program refinement. The training program, developed as part of two larger Army combat development (CD) studies (DuBois & Smith, 1989a, 1989b), represents an attempt to define program design requirements for training tank commanders to use the Intervehicular Information System (IVIS). IVIS is a computer-based command, control, and communications system proposed for future M1A1 tank upgrades. Twenty-four Army tank commanders (TCs) participated in the research effort. TCs were of various rank and age. Training and testing were conducted over a 4 day period. Training lasted 1-1/2 days followed by 2-1/2 days of testing. The Biographical Questionnaire, the IVIS Knowledge Test, the IVIS Performance Test, the SIMNET Knowledge Test, the IVIS Survey, and the IVIS Training Reactions Questionnaire were administered to each TC. TC biographical data, reactions to training, post-training performance, and post-operational performance were evaluated. Scale reliability was evaluated for each IVIS instrument. Descriptive statistics were calculated for the soldier reaction and performance measures. Regression analyses were performed to assess the impact of TC background characteristics on commander performance. Results of the above analyses indicate: (a) the IVIS Performance and Knowledge tests are reliable, (b) the soldiers learn during training and the learning transfers to the operational setting (performance measured after two days of testing shows soldiers performance significantly increased from that of post-training performance), and (c) soldier biographical characteristics do not predict IVIS proficiency. The results call for more training time allotted to teaching IVIS skills with some IVIS functions deserving more attention. Additionally, it appears personnel requirements may not be an issue for selecting IVIS system users as the study found no correlation between biographical characteristics and IVIS proficiency. And finally, it is recommended that observational raters receive greater rater training as interrater reliability estimates were low