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Knowledge, Models, and Tools to Improve Naval Distance Learning

With funding provided by the Office of Naval Research (ONR), CRESST and its subcontractors, the University of Southern California’s Center for Cognitive Technology (CCT) and Rossier School of Education (RSOE), have completed a four-year program of research on the use of assessment knowledge, models, and tools to support the use of distance learning for Naval training.


Evaluation of Shooter Positions
Assessment CRESST’s assessment models support the design of quality performance assessments, and our tools enable easy and effective applications of the models. Tools including CRESST’s Knowledge Mapper, ontologies, Bayesian networks, and CCT’s iRides system have been used to apply CRESST models to assessing the cognitive and affective determinants of marksmanship performance, identifying knowledge gaps and prescribing instruction to fill the gaps, and assessing risk management strategies to support training in the development of acquisition plans. RSOE coordinated the collection of research-based knowledge and produced the “What Works in Distance Learning Guidelines.” Guideline categories and authors are:

• Multimedia Strategies, by Richard Mayer
  
  
• Instructional Strategies, by Richard Clark
  
  
• Learning Strategies, by Myron Dembo and Linda Gubler Junge
  
  
• Assessment Strategies, by Eva Baker, Zenaida Aguirre-Munoz, Jia Wang, and David Niemi
  
  
• Motivation Strategies, by Richard Clark
  
  
• Self-regulation Strategies, by Harry O’Neil and Sanhui Chuang
  
  
• Management Strategies, by Edward Kazlauskas, and
  
  
• Transition and Implementation Issues, by Harry O’Neil
  
  

Knowledge Mapper Assessment The success of this research led to the transition of assessment models and tools to operational use by the USMC Weapons Training Battalion at Quantico, VA, and the Engineering Duty Officer School at Port Hueneme, CA. The research on assessment models and tools is described in CRESST Technical Reports 682, 692, 693, 694, and 699.

The research-based guidelines have been posted on the Department of Defense Advanced Distributed Learning website (http://www.adlnet.gov/downloads/124.cfm), and they have been published as O’Neil, H. F. (2005). What works in distance learning guidelines. Greenwich, CT: Information Age Publishing.


For additional information on CRESST’s models and tools, including the CRESST knowledge mapper and reports of research, please contact Bill Bewley at CRESST, email: bewley@cse.ucla.edu, tel.: (310) 825-7995, mailing address: UCLA GSE&IS, BOX 957150, 1400F PVUB, Los Angeles, CA 90095-7150.