CHIMAERA SCIENCE LLC — Department of Defense SBIR Phase I: N152-108

Description

A primary obstacle that newly certified instructors face is the rapid transition to instructing military classes without previous extensive training in instruction and curriculum design. Existing training initiatives on teaching strategies are scarce and insufficient in identifying specific instructional strategies and competencies required to improve student learning outcomes. To accelerate the development of instructor mastery competencies, instructors require access to training tools that are accessible on-demand and support automatic real-time skill assessment and tailored training. In support of this requirement, Adaptive Immersion Technologies will develop a closed-loop recommender system for training content and instructor resources, in the form of a perpetually accessible, cloud-hosted, multiplayer online game environment. This mobile-accessible virtual schoolhouse will function to accelerate the mastery of executive-level instructor competencies and student learning outcomes. The system will draw from psychometric and neural computing concepts to support three interrelated capabilities: adaptive, simulation-based training with intelligent virtual student agents, crowd-sourced instructional content and resources, and a persistent instructor performance measurement capability and skill record. Together, these capabilities will provide a vehicle for on-demand, engaged, deliberate practice, and a framework for continuous evaluation and optimization of the integrated solution.