Virtual Environment Training - Damage Control (VET-DC)

Accurate and timely assessment of battle damage may determine the survival of ship and crew. Without training, stress and high workload are known to produce specific types of judgment errors, including a narrowing of attention in which critical information may be overlooked, and an increased reliance on simplifying assumptions which may result in a tendency to ignore relevant information. The following are needed: (1) a training environment in which a trainee can develop an understanding of the interdependencies of tasks and information sources; (2) a training environment that promotes the development of common perspectives of situations among team members; (3) outcome measures that assure that these perspectives are responsive to evolving situations; (4) a training environment that represents the crucial elements of a time-critical, mass conflagration situation, while providing responsive training support. This phase I proposal will result in a specification for a prototype virtual environment (VE) training system, capable of representing the critical features of the shipboard damage assessment situation. The objectives are: (1) understand the damage control situation; (2) evaluate existing instructional techniques, capabilities of VEs, and methods of assessing team performance; (3) relate damage control training which integrates instructional techniques with VE capabilities to meet training requirements; (5) develop a system specfication. Relevant research issues include decision theory, team training, performance measurement, dimensions along which VEs can be characterized, and the relationship between VE characteristics and training efficiencefficiennnfficiennfficiennn