Instructor's Associate for Rating Teamwork Skills

The proposed effort will develop a prototype of a hand-held, device for use by rates in assessing teamwork skills. The device, termed an Instructor's Associate, will support standardization of instructor ratings of aircrew teamwork skills and behaviors. Current methods for capturing instructor ratings of aircrew performance require either that instructors divert attention from observing on-going behaviors to make ratings on a paper form, or make ratings after completion of a flight or simulation based on recollection. The Instructor's Associate will take advantage of computer technology to develop a hand-held input-output device that is portable and convenient to use. The device will record observations through an interface that facilitates the task of making ratings while minimizing demands on the instructor's attention. The device will function as a passive recording device and as an intelligent associate that uses artificial intelligence technology to support performance rating. This SBIR Phase I effort will result in a prototype hardware interface and software for the Instructor's Associate, as well as the system architecture for a Phase II full-scale development version that incorporates both passive and intelligent modes of data collection.