Distributed Team Training: Effective Feedback

Abstract

Mission success in military operations is determined by team actions and is dependent on effective team training. Training has the potential to strengthen or weaken a team, and feedback during training is cited as a cornerstone for effective training. The Army currently employs an after-action review (AAR) process to provide post-action feedback to teams. Traditional AAR dynamics, with teammates and a facilitator in the same room, are being disrupted by the growing frequency of geographically-distributed teams; thus, distributed AARs are becoming necessary. However, past research has not determined the optimal techniques for conducting distributed AARs. This research compared no AAR, teleconference AAR, and teleconference AAR with visual feedback. Results show that teleconference with visual feedback condition was the best, followed by no AAR, followed by teleconference AAR. This research should be considered when designing distributed military training and feedback, as well as other domains that use distributed training and feedback.

Developing, Sustaining, and Maximizing Team Effectiveness: An Integrative, Dynamic Perspective of Team Development Interventions

“…Several studies have investigated the effectiveness of including feedback with debriefs (Oden, 2009). In a study that compared the impact of debriefing only and audio-visual feedback plus debriefing, Dine, Gersh, Leary, Riegel, Bellini, and Abela (2008) found that performance outcomes on a CPR task did change, whereby there were significant improvements in performance when debriefing was combined with feedback.…”

Efficacy of Adaptive Feedback Strategies in Simulation-Based Training

“…For each of the three training missions (Mission 1, Mission 2, and Mission 3), the participant was required to search a different set of buildings while following procedures outlined in the learning objectives (LOs), which were loosely adapted from prior research using the same virtual environment to train teams (Oden, 2008). The LOs included procedures for: (1) entering and exiting buildings, (2) clearing buildings, and (3) communicating with Headquarters (played by a confederate).…”