Constructing training demonstrations

Demonstrations have been favored by the Army as a complement to more traditional training materials because they accelerate learning, stimulate interest, and communicate better than text. Unfortunately, demonstrations have received little attention in the research literature and there is little consensus on what constitutes a good demonstration. We describe two parallel avenues of research towards the rapid construction of effective demonstrations. The first avenue's goals are to: clearly articulate the nature and purpose of demonstration; compare related areas of research to identify factors influencing demonstration effectiveness; and define a set of component capabilities, guidelines and best practices for creating effective demonstrations. The results inform the second avenue's investigation of how a demonstration authoring toolset can be constructed from existing virtual training environments using 3-D multiplayer gaming technologies. Together these avenues inform our effort to create demonstrations for Army curricula.