HEARTWOOD
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Heartwood has been selected as one of the 9th Annual Top Simulation and Training Companies by Military Training Technology (MT2) magazine. These awards recognize leading companies which generate continued innovation, produce effective programs, and demonstrate a deep commitment to the military sector’s training needs.

Heartwood was recognized, in part, for its robust C₂Act interactive multimedia instruction (IMI) solutions which have been produced for a wide array of leading defense contractors this year:

• Raytheon Missile Systems (IMI for UAV Killer Bee System maintenance technicians)
• Raytheon Integrated Defense Systems (Virtual training application built on 3D gaming tools)
• Northrop Grumman (Augmented Reality Application for equipment training)
• Vision Systems International ( 3D Videos for marketing and training)
• ATK ( Virtual 3D Task Trainer)

Heartwood’s IMI training solutions are fully SCORM compliant. They integrate 3D animations, coaching from battle-buddy avatars (voice-over and animation), audio feedback of environmental sounds, and even live video into a simulated learning environment which can be authored once and then deployed anywhere from the same source code. This means Heartwood’s IMI solutions can now easily be delivered anytime and anywhere on any device.

Heartwood recognizes that warfighters only spend a fraction of their time in the schoolhouse working with dedicated equipment and PCs. Therefore, Heartwood’s solutions have been delivered through PC, smartphone (iPhone and Android), as well as netbooks and iPads. This approach can supplement traditional learning within the schoolroom or provide just-in-time learning to warfighters who need critical information or refreshers while deployed in the field. In addition to IMI and simulated learning environments, Heartwood has embraced augmented reality to assist customers in training with visual instructions.

However, Heartwood delivers more than just pixels in its virtual task trainers and multimedia courseware design. Heartwood uses state-of-the-art instructional design principles to increase learner engagement, reduce time-to-mastery, and increase learning retention rates. Therefore, Heartwood’s team of in-house instructional designers apply techniques such as path-branching, knowledge scaffolding, and error-exposure to ensure that these serious games are engaging simulations which measurably improve the warfighter’s performance in the field.

Heartwood is working with Raytheon to train maintenance crews how to repair the Patriot Missile Defense System’s radar arrays. This interactive multimedia instruction (IMI) platform faithfully renders the radar array and provides a highly-structured training scaffolding experience to develop the critical skills which directly relate to mission success: speed, accuracy, and safety.

Within the world of the virtual task trainer, the maintenance technicians must both quickly and accurately identify malfunctioning components. In the real world, an incorrect repair diagnosis keeps the system offline and produces an unnecessary gap in radar coverage. Therefore, speed and accuracy are measured carefully within the training system. As a result of this IMI simulation program, the Patriot maintenance technicians develop pattern recognition skills, learn how to ignore extraneous distractions, and accelerate their route to skills competence and then mastery.

Heartwood was recognized by Military Training Technology magazine for its ability to integrate innovative technologies with proven solutions to create successful multimedia courseware design solutions for its clients. This award, with details of the recognition, will be published in the September 2010 issue of Military Training Technology magazine.

For years, task training labs have been designed around best practices and ideal circumstances. However, this training approach bears little resemblance to the real-world repair tasks that repair technicians actually face. In fact, a classroom training program may be forced to follow a narrow sequence of correct steps because any errors will cause injuries to learners or damage expensive equipment. Quite simply, learners are protected from making mistakes. That approach can limit a traditional task training program’s success.

If you ask a good parent, you will probably hear them say, “You have to let your children make their own mistakes. They won’t believe something until they learn for themselves.”  While parents still must protect their children from grave dangers, children need room to explore. Throughout our lives, we learn from our mistakes. We also learn from the mistakes of others.

Interactive multimedia instruction (IMI) allows learners to make mistakes. In fact, a successful learning design will encourage learners to explore within the synthetic learning environment which allows several advantages over the traditional task-trainer in a classroom setting. There are three benefits that virtual task trainers offer:

1. Critical process errors, such as the failure to properly use a grounding rod can lead to electrocution in the real world, but in the virtual world it will only produce simulated injuries and equipment damage.
2. Severe consequences can be rendered in 3D with both high-fidelity and high-authenticity. Sometimes you actually want your learners to wince or be rattled.
3. The virtual task trainer requires virtually zero reset time after simulating an error. In a traditional hands-on lab, a process error could put actual equipment out of commission for weeks and require million-dollar repairs.

These practical benefits save time. They also reduce the need for dedicated hardware and instructors (who can be freed from training duties and placed out in the field). However, will 3D simulation training produce improved learning outcomes? Initial research on interactive multimedia instruction (IMI) provides an emphatic “yes,” because simulation training can leverage the principles of error exposure training. Within a training simulation, learners can see and experience the consequences of errors. However, no one gets injured. No equipment breaks.

That’s why Heartwood believes that authenticity matters as much as fidelity within a synthetic learning environment. When creating 3D models, CAD files and photographs can provide a lot of information about what an object looks like. These resources help us create high-fidelity 3D models. However, these files provide only part of the story. We need more information to produce an effective virtual task trainer. Heartwood’s in-house instructional designers frequently work with subject matter experts and even representative learners to uncover the “rest of the story” required to produce an effective task trainer.

Experienced technicians are great (and sometime harsh) judges of a virtual task trainer’s level of authenticity. They can look at a simulation and see key insights that will never appear in the CAD files.

• “That’s nice, but the system really doesn’t work that way.”
• “This bracket here tends to stick. Therefore, you need to apply pressure here to get the board out of the rack without breaking the pins.”
• “The manual assumes you have three hands for this step. That’s why we do it this way.”

Error-exposure training collects the “war stories” of experienced technicians and embeds them within the virtual task trainer. Instead of asking technicians about best-case scenarios, it’s far more interesting to ask them about worst-case scenarios:

• What made this situation less-than ideal?
• Did you miss something that delayed a repair?
• Did a misread of the situation nearly put people or equipment or risk?
• What would have been the consequences of error?

In research conducted in 2006, Australian researchers (Joung, Hesketh, and Neal) examined the training of rookie firefighters. They tested two groups. One group learned through traditional best practices, while the other group received error exposure based on scenarios revealed by veteran firefighters who had faced complex situations. The rookie firefighters who received error exposure training performed better than their counterparts who received only best-practices training. The firefighters who received error-exposure training were able to make situational judgments, because they were able to think and adapt beyond best practices.

Therefore, IMI applications, such as virtual task trainers, offer the opportunity to leverage the power of error exposure training to improve responses where technicians must make complex situational judgments.  A smart design allows people to make errors. It reflects how people actually learn, and it produces a faster route to both task competency and mastery.

If a piece of equipment can provide an electrical shock, then it can and should be simulated within the virtual task trainer. When learners experience these errors within the context of a synthetic learning environment, it creates a strong memory within their brain. It also reduces the risk that they will make these mistakes in the real world.

On July 6, 2010, NASA released Moonbase Alpha. In this serious game targeted to teens, it presents a scenario where we have returned to the moon to open up a colony. In this twenty minute proof-of-concept scenario, a nearby meteor strike cripples the base’s oxygen production capabilities. Players assume the roles of astronauts who must repair the base’s power-generation and oxygen production systems before the colony runs out of oxygen. It’s a pretty serious premise, and it requires a team of players to collaborate to achieve the many tasks involve in the repairs – fixing solar arrays, reconnecting hoses, and repairing circuits. Up to six players can participate in the game at a time, and they’re competing against the clock to post the quickest repair job.

In many ways, NASA has produced a team-based technical task trainer. When you launch Moonbase Alpha, you instantly notice that this isn’t the standard video game version of space. The physics has been reviewed by an organization which has actually sent people there. While it’s easy to navigate with the mouse and keyboard, you feel the challenges of working in low-gravity. When you jump over a power coupling, your avatar hangs in the air longer than Michael Jordan charging the net.

I am significantly reminded of the project that Heartwood completed for Raytheon. This repair simulation asks technicians to repair a radar system which has been degraded due to malfunctioning circuit boards. Within the course of the virtual training simulation, the technicians must diagnose the malfunctioning components and identify the correct course of action to restore the radar system’s functionality as quickly as possible.

NASA’s Moonbase Alpha is designed for teens, and so it significantly simplifies the steps needed to diagnose and repair circuit boards. Yet, the game is essentially a timed virtual task trainer within a synthetic learning environment.

Moonbase Alpha allows us to make an important distinction between fidelity and authenticity within synthetic learning environments such as virtual task trainers.  Researchers Jan Cannon-Bowers and Clint Bowers at the University of Central Florida describe the difference this way:

• Fidelity – Degree which the simulation is a faithful representation of the real phenomenon or task
• Authenticity – Degree which the simulation causes learners to engage in cognitive or emotional processes similar to those in the real world

NASA’s simulation in Moonbase Alpha significantly simplifies the process of conducting repairs in space.  After 20 minutes of playing Moonbase Alpha, I had learned the game’s tasks, but I certainly would need years of training before I could conduct actual repairs during a spacewalk.  As a result, this serious game had a lower level of fidelity.

However, when I played Moonbase Alpha, I felt three strong elements of authenticity. Unlike other games which were set “in space.” First, this game drew immersed me into a lunar environment.  Second, within the game world, crew members asked for “status requests” on the repairs. It created an authentic feeling of working against a clock. Third, this game created an authentic team-task experience.

NASA launched this game on Valve Software’s Steam game platform and includes chat and voice capability, so I also played this game in its multiplayer format. I was part of a team of six players who were randomly put together as teammates to solve the scenario. If we all worked independently, we would move inefficiently. So, we needed to communicate and collaborate to conduct the in-game repairs quickly. This collaborative experience was highly authentic. When a teammate completed a task more quickly than expected, she drew cheers. However, when someone struggled, some criticized and others leapt in to help.

Moonbase Alpha serves as an excellent proof-of-concept project for NASA’s upcoming official MMO: Astronaut: Moon, Mars, Beyond. It also provides an excellent illustration of the differences between authenticity and fidelity.

When creating a virtual task trainer, instructional designers must choose how to balance competing interests of fidelity and authenticity. For a long time, the industry has pursued increasing levels of pixel fidelity; however, initial research shows that within the world of synthetic learning environments, authenticity may be as important as fidelity. It may even be more important in some cases.

Today’s young warfighters are digital natives who need rapid learning solutions.  Therefore, the US ARMY requested a defense contractor to create a virtual training program for radar maintenance engineers. Specifically, the ARMY wanted replace its mountain of videos, manuals, written tests, and even preliminary hands on testing.

• The ARMY recognized that learners achieve skills mastery quicker through 3D Virtual Training Simulations
• Training needed to be delivered anytime, anywhere, on any system.

Many organizations find themselves challenged by COTS software – such as NGRAIN, Right Hemisphere, OLIVE, etc. Companies often find that people with the right skills aren’t often available on their internal bench. Therefore, Heartwood serves as a trusted advisor to develop custom, interactive virtual training simulations.

The defense contractor asked Heartwood to create interactive courseware that would fully replicate the system’s appearance and functionality. Within the virtual trainer, cables needed to move, lights turn on, etc.

Heartwood’s team visited Fort Sill, Oklahoma. There, we collected the assets we needed to build highly-realistic 3D models. We gathered accurate physical measurements, CAD files, and took digital photos. Then, our award winning team of 3D modelers, texture artists, animators, and programmers all collaborated on the custom turnkey solution.

Powerful training solutions require more than just pixels. You have to understand how adults learn. Therefore, Heartwood created a learning platform which included the following elements:

• Introductory and summary 3D videos (animations) – with graphics, sound, and voiceovers explaining the “why” behind each maintenance task
• Feedback for correct and incorrect actions
• Five-part questions with multiple choice selectors
• After-action summaries

The defense contractor’s evolving needs were satisfied by Heartwood’s deep virtual training and 3D animation experience, which minimized both program disruption and risks.