ADAPT: Adaptive Device for Adaptive Performance Training

Irregular warfare is increasingly the dominant form of military engagement. It is dynamic and unforgiving of errors, requiring warfighters to adapt fluidly to novel, complex, and ill-defined problems. The goal of this Phase II STTR is to implement and refine a training tool that builds adaptive expertise. The system teaches the learner to recognize and understand the fundamental principles underlying features of novel problems, and systematically presents problems that stretch the student’s capability to adapt. As it is used, the system identifies the learner’s current state of adaptive expertise and intelligently selects subsequent exercises that have sufficient novelty to advance this expertise. Thus, the system – ADAPT – is both an Adaptive Device (responding to the needs of each individual) and a tool for Adaptive Performance Training. In Phase II, we will implement ADAPT and empirically validate its contents, measures, and effects. The project team of Aptima and Dr. Kurt VanLehn (Arizona State University) bring to this task: expertise in training and adaptability research and experience developing intelligent tutoring systems to enhance adaptive performance.