DECREASEING THE COST AND INCREASING THE PERFORMANCE OF COMPUTER BASED TRAINING SIMULATIONS

CURRENTLY AVAILABLE AUTHORING SYSTEMS HAVE BEEN PROVEN EFFECTIVE IN PRODUCING COMPUTER-BASED TRAINING LESSONS CONTAINING SEQUENCES OF TEXT AND GRAPHICS SCREENS THROUGH WHICH THE STUDENT IS GUIDED UNTIL MASTERY IS ACHIEVED. IN A PERSONNEL TRAINING SIMULATION, FAR MORE ADVANCED CAPABILITIES ARE REQUIRED, INCLUDING MULTITASKING, COMMUNICATION WITH EXTERNAL DEVICES, HIGH SPEED DATA ANALYSIS AND GRAPHICS SCREEN UPDATING, AND THE MONITORING OR INITIATION OF REAL-TIME EVENTS. THE EFFICIENCIES OF EXISTING AUTHORING SYSTEMS AND PROGRAMMING LANGUAGES ARE LOST WHEN A HIGHLY SKILLED PROGRAMMER MUST DEVELOP THESE CAPABILITIES AT A LOW SYSTEM LEVEL. THIS PROJECT WILL DETERMINE THE CAPABILITIES MOST NEEDED BY SIMULATION PROGRAMS, CREATE A PROTOTYPE SOFTWARE SYSTEM THAT SUPPORTS THESE CAPABILITIES, AND PERFORM TESTING TO DETERMINE THEIR EFFECTIVENESS. THIS RESEARCH CAN BE USED TO DEVELOP THE PROTOTYPE PRODUCT INTO A COMMERCIALLY VIABLE AUTHORING SYSTEM THAT ALLOWS A PROGRAMMER WITH SIX MONTHS TO ONE YEAR EXPERIENCE TO DEVELOP SOPHISTICATED COMPUTER-BASED SIMULATIONS IN A HIGHLY EFFICIENT AND COST EFFECTIVE MANNER.