Preserving capacity, General Tom Lawson, Chief of the Defence Staff, Keys to Canadian SAR
Issue link: http://vanguardcanada.uberflip.com/i/507045
42 APRIL/MAY 2015 www.vanguardcanada.com T TrAining After consulting with my lead instruc- tors, we chose to build a courseware pack- age for teaching about the main landing gear: its removal and installation. Research had told me that this type of interactive training should reduce the time it takes to teach the curriculum by about 30-40 percent. We were already looking for ways to reduce the course length for aviation technicians at the time, so it seemed like a good fit. A Halifax-based company called Pix- elyard built the courseware, and we put it into action to trial its effectiveness. The re- sults were just as advertised: the classroom portion of the course was reduced by 38 percent. All students achieved the same test score level as historical data showed. This alone would have been reason enough to recommend this training tech- nology for wider application. But some- thing unexpected happened next that really amazed us. When the students went out on the hangar floor to do the practical, they suc- cessfully removed and installed the land- ing gear 100 percent correct the first time they tried it – and the instructors said they never asked for any assistance or guidance. Moreover, they removed and installed the gear in less time than average main- tenance records show for certified tech- nicians. By practicing the removal and installation procedures through 3D, the students had transferred the procedural knowledge to the practical task, and re- duced the time for practical training by 48 percent. I was hooked. first experiments My interest in gamification for military training dates back to 2006, when, after my tour at the 404 Squadron school, I was posted to 2 Canadian Air Division, the training headquarters for the air force. My position was program director for ad- vanced training technologies for aircraft technician training. My area of respon- sibility was all of the air force technician training schools across the country. What I had learned from my previ- ous post was that 3D interactive train- ing could significantly reduce theory and practical training times. These re- sults were based primarily on procedural courses that included removal and instal- lation activities. But there was another level of learning that needed to be ad- dressed, and that was for problem-solv- ing and troubleshooting. At that time, experience levels were dwindling as seasoned members retired and were being replaced by newly trained technicians. The pressure points in main- tenance performance were largely due to a lack of in-depth systems knowledge, knowledge that typically comes from ex- perience. So how could we deliver artificial experience? You guessed it – gamification! Our first experiment was to address a performance gap on Hercules aircraft en- gine maintenance. Working with Standard Aero, we diagnosed maintenance perfor- mance and found that one of the biggest impacts to maintenance costs and aircraft on-ground time was attributable to inexpe- rience at engine accessory troubleshooting. Again, with Standard Aero, we designed and built a scenario-based game called "My Herc Don't Work" that presented engine performance problems to the stu- dents and allowed them opportunities to make decisions on how to solve the prob- lems. The student activities and time were tracked and scored. When they had com- pleted the maintenance on the "virtual" engine, they were given feedback on how well they performed. The game provided an opportunity for the students to practise real-life situations in a fun gaming atmosphere, all the while growing their experience base that could be applied to actual aircraft maintenance situations. Another training gamification we devel- oped was part of the leadership training for the air force. This time, working with At- lantis Systems Eduplus, we built a scenario- based course that challenged maintenance junior leaders to achieve tasks by selecting properly qualified technicians and logging activities in accordance with maintenance policy. The product was a huge success with not only the junior leaders, but also the senior leadership of the air force who reviewed and approved it. The outline for a classroom version of the course was designed to take up to six weeks. Instead, with gamification ju- nior technicians accomplished the same learning outcomes in six days, online and while staying at home. This significantly reduced training costs and returned stu- dents back to their operational command- ers five weeks sooner than the classroom instruction version. Pushing the envelope even further, we