Usability Optimization of a Military Training System

Setting The Stage

Design Interactive, Inc. (DI) and the Institute for Simulation and Training (IST) were members of a multidisciplinary team involved in a science and technology project that sought to integrate pedagogical insights learned from science into innovative technology to satisfy the instructional field needs of the United States Marine Corps (USMC). The team was charged with conducting research on the latest pedagogical methods and on the instructional needs of Marines in the field. The findings of this research were to be integrated into the design and subsequent development of an instructional support system that Marines could use at their training locations. At the same time, budgetary pressures have forced the military services to “develop results-oriented performance metrics that can be used to evaluate the effectiveness of their training…initiatives” (US Government Accountability Office, 2011). This led the project sponsors to impose key performance criteria that the system should achieve in order to be acceptable for transition into the fleet’s repertoire of tools.