Virtual
sergeants
Technology-based
training leads the way
Technology
Based Training – putting YOU in the picture.
By the end of this year, corporals on Subject One for Sergeant will
have access to some of the most modern training technology in the
country
By
Leigh Stevenson
A sophisticated interactive 3D package developed by the Army’s
Training Technology Centre (TTC) sends trainees into virtual action
against enemy forces that have landed on our shores.
Imagine
you are a sergeant taking a platoon of soldiers on patrol through
rugged northern Australia. You are scouting the positions of hostile
enemy forces when suddenly you learn that one of your soldiers has
left behind a crucial piece of equipment in an area that is likely
to now have enemy present.
The
encryption device is needed to decode field commands. Should you:
a) send him back on his own to retrieve it, b) order a section to
go back, or c) take the entire platoon back to get the equipment.
Corporals
on their Subject One for Sergeant course will be faced with such
choices as they progress through a series of 3D animated scenarios
in the Offensive Operations component of the course.
The
package was developed by the TTC based around an interactive/educational
scenario created by a team run by Project Manager and Instructional
Designer Capt Sharyn Fewster and Animation Director Leigh Stevenson.
It
puts the trainee in an animated battleground scenario where they
must make critical choices that affect the wellbeing of all the
soldiers in their platoon.
TTC
appointed a team of Instructional Designers, AV specialists and
Illustrators to produce the lesson scripts that form the basis of
the instruction.
Capt
Fewster said in designing the package they wanted to avoid the ‘data
dump’ phenomena, which can occur on such courses.
“Rather
than injecting data into a learner and assessing it, we have given
the user the opportunity to assess situations based on lessons learnt
in the modules, and make decisions which will help move the platoon
forward to meet its objectives,” she said.
The
Sergeant Offensive Operations Package will be trialed by the Regional
Training Centre (RTC) Watsonia in October/November after which it
will be rolled out to RTCs across Australia.
TTC
entered the package in the Education and Training category of the
Australian Effects and Animation Festival (AEFA) in December last
year, where it was placed as a finalist in its category – highly
commended – putting the Army in a prestegious position in the
realm of digital effects and animation.
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