Using Adaptive Learning In Civilian and Military Education

Adaptive learning is a methodology that has been applied to both civilian and military usage. Students engaging in adaptive training learn and growth through a sequence of difficulties and feedback that help them build better models of the materials and then apply knowledge to solving problems. A study of adaptive learning in the military found that certain personalities are more able to capitalize off of adaptive learning (Spain, Pries & Murphy, 2012).

As human beings we learn from our experience and from our social networks. We adapt and change to the environment around us. As new challenges and struggles make their way into our consciousness we continue to find ways to overcome them. As each new struggle and mastery occurs new knowledge is created. 

The same methodology that occurs in our natural environment can also occur in civilian and military education. With the advent of online education it is possible to create adaptive training that becomes increasingly more difficult as one move through the course. As of yet the process is considered expensive and not easy to complete. 

This expense is based upon the need to cater training to individual students. The student becomes the center of learning and that information which helps them adapt is provided on a case-by-case basis making higher levels learning possible as they incorporate that information. Newer information is built on previously learned information to develop higher forms of knowledge. 

The information can be provided by an individual professor/trainer in a face-to-face medium or through an online system. An evaluation of the student's current understanding is made and then new information is provided to help build upon their current understandings to create a bridge to a higher levels of understanding. It is a fairly intensive process that is becoming more automated with new technology.

Adaptive learning may be intense but does produce some of the best learning. Those that are most likely to quickly adapt to situations score high on openness to experience and emotional stability. They are intellectually curious people who can control impulses to think more strategically about issues. The better able they are to experience, reflect and learn the more likely they are to learn new skills. The use of adaptive learning in both military and civilian arenas can help students to find a bridge between their past understandings and new knowledge that helps them navigate their environment. 

Spain, R., Priest, H. & Murphy, J. (2012). Current trends in adaptive training with military applications: an introduction. Military Psychology, 24 (2).

Improving Robotics and Human Intelligence through Online Education

Human intelligence takes a heightened position in the modern age as the use of robotic rescue equipment offers emerging opportunities to enhance military capabilities. Human intelligence matched with robotic equipment creates stronger interfaces between the two that extends human capabilities. Petrisor, et. al. (2013) discusses how e-learning in a digitized battlefield creates cooperation between human and artificial intelligence in obtaining higher performance. 

The idea for developing learning and adapting machines was first introduced in the 1950’s by BF Skinner who wrote The Science of Learning and the Art of Teaching as well as Teaching Machines. As a behavioral psychologist he developed a machine that not only was intrinsically rewarding to students but also rewarded them externally for correct answers. 

The use of machines as well as the platform by which students learn has radically improved. Online learning can do much more than Skinner’s early experiments and now integrates various forms of media, communication tools, and content to produce highly intensive programs for students to learn and develop.  

Online learning is a leading method of integrating various technologies to help operate military robotics. The ability to use information quickly, integrate technology, focus on managing and effectively controlling robots has been tested by the Robo-Security Min-robot Project with significant success. 

The world of robotics is present and we will need military members with high technological skills, theoretical knowledge, and virtual functionality to work within this field. Online education is seen as an important method of training military members who work in these fields and ensuring that they understand how their senses work with virtual information and physical outputs. Programs are still in their infancy and are still in the process of being developed. 

Petrisor, S., et. al. (2013). The robo security mini robot between contemporary military imperatives and the new educational paradigms. Paper Presented: The 9^th International Scientific Conference. ELearning and software for education.  Bucharest

How E-Learning is Changing the Nature of Combat

A Patriot Breeze by Dr. M. Abel

Technology is here to stay while the development of higher levels of skill to effectively handle that technology is important.  A paper by Eparu & Atanasiu (2014) discusses the need to raise technological abilities through online training by encouraging higher levels of military systems development. The human ability to develop strategy and make political decisions is enhanced through proper systems and technological knowledge that allow for a more collaborative response to threats. 

The nature of the battlefield has changed. Data and information can be drawn from thousands of data points to understand the situation and the potential for threat. Understanding how data can lead to better conclusions of current and future activities is important for improved performance. 

The far majority of militaries are simply not prepared to measure, collect and properly use new information effectively. Misinterpretations of the data, improper measurements, and a lack of capabilities to act decisively on that information appear prevalent. 

Officers have some difficulty in understanding this macro data or solve problems using that data in unique ways. More complexity requires a different way of handling competing information, weighing and balancing options, and coming to conclusions in difficult situations. 

Those decisions also impact the specific use of technology on the ground level. There is a natural chain-reaction throughout the battlefield as new data is decided on and those decisions are spread quickly to change specific activities. Individual soldiers will need to use technology based equipment to respond quickly and effectively to emerging threats. 

You can see this example in enemy troop movements that are not yet completely formulated but are nevertheless represented sparsely in the data. Officers will need to interpret the change of events, make a decision that counters risks and raises opportunities, and then send their decisions to multiple battlefield components that use their individual tools to respond. 

The author’s conclusion is that all modern militaries update knowledge using e-learning methods. The development of higher functioning ranges through the use of verbal, decision-making, information gathering, analysis and a whole host of contributing skills that can be taught online. Game simulation is only one of the skills needed to accomplish military goals. E-learning programs can be more effective through developing learning policy, measuring performance, applying learning resources, maintaining learning standards, and satisfying users. 

Eparu, D. & Atanasiu, M. (April 24-25,2014) New training for successful military action. The 10^th International Scientific Conference eLearning and Software for Education

Encouraging Stronger Leadership with the ALDS Program

Military training principles are often used in both the military and corporate world to varying degrees of success. They are intense programs designed to test the very nature and central identity of individuals. Lt. Colonel Beurskens discusses the nature and benefit of the 2013 Army Leader Development Strategy (ALDS) that develops critical and creative thinking that solves problems. 

ALDS uses training, experience, and education to create operational, institutional, and developmental spheres of leadership enhancement. Programs offer opportunities to blur the lines between these three spheres to develop something stronger. 

In 2010 the U.S. Army Combined Armed Center tested the success of the program to develop captains that have technical, tactical, knowledge, and skills to lead company size units and work within battalions and brigade staffs. 

They found that there is no substitute for a high quality leader in small group functions. Likewise, curriculum must be updated, relevant, and rigorous for the program to work well. The updating and alignment of technology to small group learning is important.

The programs are enhanced with knowledgeable instructors from diverse backgrounds, opportunities to social network, and time to recover, achieve, and rebalance after new milestones.  The components work together in a messy pathway of development to achieve their goals.

Whether one is working in the military or within the corporate center it is important to ensure that continuous improvement in training methods occur to foster the highest caliber of leaders.  People are cut from many different cloths and their development is often uniquely their own. Ensuring that the proper resources and structure are present fosters higher success rates.

 Beurkens, K. (2014) The Criticality of Captain’s Education. Military Review, 94 (2).

Using Career Oriented Academic Knowledge to Raise Military Functionality

The nature of the military is changing and so are the training needs. Dr. Rutherford moves into a discussion of the needs of training in the Australian Army and the specific training at the Royal Military College (2013). His article focuses on the enhancement of specific career skills to support the command and control functions. The complexity of military operations requires the development of different types of talents that may not fit exclusively into command and control learning style. 

Modern warfare is different than it was in the past. It requires higher technology, logistical systems, abstract thinking and greater functionality. Command and control functions are based in the learning of skill of the position above and below in combat functions. This focus in the military is necessary but also may be forcing those with the relevant skills out of the military and thereby decreasing knowledge retention. 

Combat is the main function but the ability to maintain combat is based in more administrative and career knowledge skills. If the equipment, technology, and support functions are not there the military would be less capable. Many of these functions are contracted out due to a lack of specific knowledge within units and the military in general. 

Individuals in the military are generally trained in broad skills related to their rank but are not trained to excel in their functions. Their training is focused on specific tasks and often do not develop the higher order understanding needed to influence how the system works, where to improve the system, or how to operate it independently. 

As the nature of the military and complexity of combat increases more pressure is being placed on headquarters based on the home soil. The information, skills, and functionality can depend on decisions being made hundreds of miles away from the actual events. Training military personal on their careers as a widening of responsibilities will help the military find additional effectiveness and efficiency. 

It will also help the military retain top talent that age beyond the traditional combat functions. Their knowledge and skills of the military can be added to their academic problem-solving skills to create greater support to combat operations. Talent is retained and operational performance is improved across a wide array of functional areas. 

The author discusses the continued importation of civilian processes and the loss of internal talent due to the nature of command and control training. Training military personnel in careers beyond their rank will help retain and maintain top talent while increasing the functionality of the military units. Moving beyond simple transactional learning to career oriented skill sets will improve upon functionality and knowledge and thereby improving the learning-organizational aspects of the military. It will also allow the military to adjust these civilian processes to pin point their resources to their actual needs.

 Rutherford, P. (2013). Training in the arm: meeting the needs of a changing culture. Training & Development, 40 (6).