Transformation Accelerated through Redesign, Guidance, and Enhanced Training (TARGET)

As submarine threats from adversary countries continue to rise, the U.S. Navy must maintain and expand its anti-submarine warfare (ASW) capabilities. Warfighter readiness is the linchpin of the Navys ASW strategy, but the complexity of the ASW domain necessitates time-consuming training, and practical experiences to transfer those skills to the operational environment. An innovative training approach is needed to accelerate mastery and foster transfer of ASW skills. To satisfy this need, we propose to develop TARGET: Transformation Accelerated through Redesign, Guidance, and Enhanced Training. TARGET is comprised of two components: (1) a task-centered instructional design strategy for ASW education, and (2) a performance support tool to assist ASW instructors as they apply task-centered instructional design. TARGETS first component involves adopting a task-centered learning framework for integrating teaching methods and technologies into a cohesive curriculum. The curriculum will accelerate mastery of complex ASW skills, reducing schoolhouse training time. TARGETs second component involves developing an electronic performance support tool to assist Navy instructors as they apply task-centered instructional design. The tool will greatly expand the impact of our solution by allowing instructors to apply the task-centered learning approach to other ASW topics and throughout Navy schoolhouse training.