View All Items
(121 - 140 of 158)
Pages
- Title
- "The Best and Worst of All That God and Man Can Do": Paternalistic Perceptions On the Intellectually Disabled at Florida's Sunland Institutions.".
- Creator
-
Dickens, Bethany, Cassanello, Robert, Foster, Amy, Lindsay, Anne, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
-
Historians have studied mental institutions in the mid-20th century; however, few have discussed them within the context of the period's paternalistic social movements and perceptions. Florida's Sunland program provides a lens for studying the parental role the institutions and general public took toward the intellectually disabled. Specifically, administrators saw residents of the Sunland Training Centers and Hospitals as perpetual children, trapped in an (")eternal childhood.(") The...
Show moreHistorians have studied mental institutions in the mid-20th century; however, few have discussed them within the context of the period's paternalistic social movements and perceptions. Florida's Sunland program provides a lens for studying the parental role the institutions and general public took toward the intellectually disabled. Specifically, administrators saw residents of the Sunland Training Centers and Hospitals as perpetual children, trapped in an (")eternal childhood.(") The institution was presented as a family unit, abiding by 1950s ideals of the companionate household. When the Sunlands proved generally unsuccessful, Florida's communities began to supplement their efforts. The social movements of the 1960s inspired community care organizations and other special programs in lieu of institutionalization. Reports of neglect and abuse at the Sunlands contributed to the community's subsequent perception of residents as (")victimized children,(") deprived of a (")normal(") life. Such a view of the intellectually disabled continues to dominate discussions of the Sunlands, community care, and (")normalization.(") This study informs a broad understanding of the past while contributing to these contemporary considerations. Research into the Sunland Training Centers and Hospitals, as well as their surrounding communities, relies on subjective sources. The flagship training center, located in Gainesville, published an internally-circulated newsletter utilized in this work. Detailed studies of Florida's newspapers provide the perspective of Florida's community members, including women's clubs and civil rights activists. Finally, articles and books written on Sunland (")hauntings(") illustrate recent attempts to define and patronize the intellectually disabled. All of these sources point toward a liberal paternalism that dominated discussions of the intellectually disabled in the mid-20th century.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2014
- Identifier
- CFE0005156, ucf:50707
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0005156
- Title
- Mental rotation: Can familiarity alleviate the effects of complex backgrounds?.
- Creator
-
Selkowitz, Anthony, Sims, Valerie, Jentsch, Florian, Chin, Matthew, Cash, Mason, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
-
This dissertation investigated the effects of complex backgrounds on mental rotation. Stimulus familiarity and background familiarity were manipulated. It systematically explored how familiarizing participants to objects and complex backgrounds affects their performance on a mental rotation task involving complex backgrounds. This study had 113 participants recruited through the UCF Psychology SONA system. Participants were familiarized with a stimulus in a task where they were told to...
Show moreThis dissertation investigated the effects of complex backgrounds on mental rotation. Stimulus familiarity and background familiarity were manipulated. It systematically explored how familiarizing participants to objects and complex backgrounds affects their performance on a mental rotation task involving complex backgrounds. This study had 113 participants recruited through the UCF Psychology SONA system. Participants were familiarized with a stimulus in a task where they were told to distinguish the stimulus from 3 other stimuli. A similar procedure was used to familiarize the backgrounds. The research design was a 2 stimulus familiarity (Familiarized with the Target Stimulus, not familiarized with the Target Stimulus) by 2 background familiarity (Familiarized with Target Background, not familiarized with Target Background 1) by 2 stimulus response condition (Target Stimulus, Non-Target Stimulus) by 3 background response condition (Target Background, Non-Target Background, Blank Background) by 12 degree of rotation (0, 30, 60, 90, 120, 150, 180, 210, 240, 270, 300, 330) mixed design. The study utilized target stimulus and target background familiarity conditions as the between-subjects variables. Background, stimulus, and degree of rotation were within-subjects variables. The participants' performance was measured using reaction time and percent of errors. Reaction time was computed using only the correct responses. After the familiarization task, participants engaged in a mental rotation task featuring stimuli and backgrounds that were present or not present in the familiarization task. A 2 (stimulus familiarization condition) by 2 (background familiarization condition) by 2 (stimulus response condition) by 3 (background response condition) by 12 (degree of rotation) mixed ANOVA was computed utilizing reaction time and percent of errors. Results suggest that familiarity with the Target Background had the largest effect on improving performance across response conditions. The results also suggest that familiarity with both the Target Stimulus and Target Background promoted inefficient mental rotation strategies which resulted in no significant differences between participants familiarized with neither the Target Stimulus nor the Target Background. Theoretical conclusions are drawn about stimulus familiarity and background familiarity. Future studies should investigate the effects of long term familiarity practice on mental rotation and complex backgrounds.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2015
- Identifier
- CFE0005998, ucf:50789
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0005998
- Title
- Driving performance adaptation through practice with and without distracters in a simulated environment.
- Creator
-
Gentzler, Marc, Smither, Janan, Neider, Mark, Rinalducci, Edward, Mcconnell, Daniel, Ray, Roger, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
-
A preponderance of research points to the detrimental effects of distraction on driving performance. An interesting question is whether practice can improve distracted driving. The results from the few longitudinal simulator-based research studies conducted on driving distraction have been inconclusive. This may be because practice effects could be confounded with participants adapting to driving in the simulator. Therefore, participants in the current studies were trained until performance...
Show moreA preponderance of research points to the detrimental effects of distraction on driving performance. An interesting question is whether practice can improve distracted driving. The results from the few longitudinal simulator-based research studies conducted on driving distraction have been inconclusive. This may be because practice effects could be confounded with participants adapting to driving in the simulator. Therefore, participants in the current studies were trained until performance reached a steady state prior to introducing the distracters.In this dissertation, two single-subject design studies were used to investigate the effects of training on distracted driving. The first study included two participants who experienced several different types of distracters. In the second study distracters were introduced before and after the training phase. The two distracters selected for Study 2 included conversing on a handheld phone and texting on a touchscreen phone continuously while driving in a city scenario. Previous research has not compared texting to phone, has had relatively littleexamination of texting and driving alone, and has primarily focused on hands-free phones and on highway settings. Participants drove on a city route which they had previously memorized to add realism to the driving task. Measures collected included speed maintenance, lane deviations/position errors, stop errors, and turn errors in both studies. In Study 2, subjective workload and reaction time were also collected.Findings indicated that training improved performance substantially for all participants in both studies compared to the initial baseline. Participants who experienced six and even nine sessions of the initial baseline did not necessarily improve more than those who only had three sessions. Performance for some participants did not improve in the initial baseline. The lower error levels in training remained fairly stable in subsequent baselines showing that actual learning did occur. Texting had higher error levels than phone both pre and post-training. There were no practice effects noticed for the distracters post-training for any of the participants, and in fact errors increased across sessions for phone and especially texting in Study 2. Training helped improve performance during the phone distraction more so than texting overall, although this varied for different dependent measures. Although errors were reduced after training in the distracter phases, the data actually showed that the performance difference between the baselines and the distracters pre-training was smaller than the differences post-training. Based on these findings, it is recommended that researchers conducting driving simulation research systematically train their participants on driving the simulator before they begin data collection.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2014
- Identifier
- CFE0005169, ucf:50658
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0005169
- Title
- A Framework for Measuring Return on Investment for Healthcare Simulation-Based Training.
- Creator
-
Bukhari, Hatim, Rabelo, Luis, Elshennawy, Ahmad, Goldiez, Brian, Andreatta, Pamela, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
-
In the healthcare sector, providing high-quality service in a safe environment for both patient and staff is an obvious and ultimate major objective. Training is an essential component for achieving this important objective. Most organizations acknowledge that employee simulation-based training programs are an important part of the human capital strategy, yet few have effectively succeeded in quantifying the real and precise ROI of this type of investment. Therefore, if the training is...
Show moreIn the healthcare sector, providing high-quality service in a safe environment for both patient and staff is an obvious and ultimate major objective. Training is an essential component for achieving this important objective. Most organizations acknowledge that employee simulation-based training programs are an important part of the human capital strategy, yet few have effectively succeeded in quantifying the real and precise ROI of this type of investment. Therefore, if the training is perceived as a waste of resources and its ROI is not clearly recognized, it will be the first option to cut when the budget cut is needed.The various intangible benefits of healthcare simulation-based training are very difficult to quantify. In addition, there was not a unified way to count for the different cost and benefits to provide a justifiable ROI. Quantifying the qualitative and intangible benefits of medical training simulator needed a framework that helps to identify and convert qualitative and intangible benefits into monetary value so it can be considered in the ROI evaluation.This research is a response to the highlighted importance of developing a comprehensive framework that has the capability to take into consideration the wide range of benefits that simulation-based training can bring to the healthcare system taking into consideration the characteristics of this specific field of investment. The major characteristics of investment in this field include the uncertainty, the qualitative nature of the major benefits, and the diversity and the wide range of applications.This comprehensive framework is an integration of several methodologies and tools. It consists of three parts. The first part of the framework is the benefits and cost structure, which pays special attention to the qualitative and intangible benefits by considering the Value Measurement methodology (VMM) and other previously existing models. The second part of the framework is important to deal with the uncertainty associated with this type of investment. Monte Carlo simulation is a tool that considered multiple scenarios of input sets instead of a single set of inputs. The third part of the framework considers an advanced value analysis of the investment. It goes beyond the discounted cash flow (DCF) methodologies like net present value (NPV) that consider a single scenario for the cash flow to Real Options Analysis that consider the flexibility over the lifetime of the investment when evaluating the value of the investment. This framework has been validated through case studies.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2017
- Identifier
- CFE0006859, ucf:51750
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0006859
- Title
- Fire safety and emergency evacuation training for occupants of building using 3D virtual simulation.
- Creator
-
Bhide, Sayli, Rabelo, Luis, Lee, Gene, McCauley, Pamela, Ahmad, Ali, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
-
With advancement in technology, building structures are becoming bigger and more complex. Incidences of horrifying fires that occur in such complex structures resulting in loss of property as well as lives are recorded worldwide. Emergency evacuation training can play a crucial role in mitigating damage not only in cases of fire, explosion or chemical spill but also in cases of natural calamities like floods and hurricanes. Conventional safety training provided in industries mostly comprises...
Show moreWith advancement in technology, building structures are becoming bigger and more complex. Incidences of horrifying fires that occur in such complex structures resulting in loss of property as well as lives are recorded worldwide. Emergency evacuation training can play a crucial role in mitigating damage not only in cases of fire, explosion or chemical spill but also in cases of natural calamities like floods and hurricanes. Conventional safety training provided in industries mostly comprises of unidirectional flow of information. Due to this passive learning style, response of employees in real life emergency situations is known to be ineffective. The proposed research focuses on the development of virtual emergency evacuation safety training for residents, workers and employees. This research developed a 3 dimensional (3D) virtual fire safety and emergency evacuation training for building occupants. A 3D model of a real engineering college building in the University of Central Florida (UCF) was developed in a virtual world and participants could interact with various objects and scenarios in this virtual building on a standard desktop computer using keyboard and mouse. Expert interviews and literature review were utilized to develop contents of fire safety and emergency evacuation training. Also, a slide based fire safety and emergency evacuation training was developed based on same contents and made available through a website. An effort was made to develop both trainings- virtual and slide based to be comparable in terms of contents. A case study with two sets of experiments comprising of 143 participants from UCF community was conducted to understand factors such as fidelity, simulation sickness, engagement and effectiveness of 3D virtual and slide based fire safety and emergency evacuation training. Results of fidelity and simulation sickness validated use of 3D virtual training for training building residents on fire safety and emergency evacuation. Data analysis of knowledge tests allowed to compare short terms and long term effectiveness of 3D virtual training and slide based training. To further understand engagement, physiological measure- electroencephalograph (EEG) of 40 healthy participants was recorded in second set of experiments. Ratio of Beta and Alpha frequency bands was studied to understand attention paid by trainees in 3D virtual and slide based training.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2017
- Identifier
- CFE0006935, ucf:51647
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0006935
- Title
- Gesture Assessment of Teachers in an Immersive Rehearsal Environment.
- Creator
-
Barmaki, Roghayeh, Hughes, Charles, Foroosh, Hassan, Sukthankar, Gita, Dieker, Lisa, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
-
Interactive training environments typically include feedback mechanisms designed to help trainees improve their performance through either guided- or self-reflection. When the training system deals with human-to-human communications, as one would find in a teacher, counselor, enterprise culture or cross-cultural trainer, such feedback needs to focus on all aspects of human communication. This means that, in addition to verbal communication, nonverbal messages must be captured and analyzed for...
Show moreInteractive training environments typically include feedback mechanisms designed to help trainees improve their performance through either guided- or self-reflection. When the training system deals with human-to-human communications, as one would find in a teacher, counselor, enterprise culture or cross-cultural trainer, such feedback needs to focus on all aspects of human communication. This means that, in addition to verbal communication, nonverbal messages must be captured and analyzed for semantic meaning.?The goal of this dissertation is to employ machine-learning algorithms that semi-automate and, where supported, automate event tagging in training systems developed to improve human-to-human interaction. The specific context in which we prototype and validate these models is the TeachLivE teacher rehearsal environment developed at the University of Central Florida. The choice of this environment was governed by its availability, large user population, ?extensibility and existing reflection tools found within the AMITIES ??framework underlying the TeachLivE system.?Our contribution includes accuracy improvement of the existing data-driven gesture recognition utility from Microsoft; called Visual Gesture Builder. Using this proposed methodology and tracking sensors, we created a gesture database and used it for the implementation of our proposed online gesture recognition and feedback application. We also investigated multiple methods of feedback provision, including visual and haptics. The results from the conducted user studies indicate the positive impact of the proposed feedback applications and informed body language in teaching competency.In this dissertation, we describe the context in which the algorithms have been developed, the importance of recognizing nonverbal communication in this context, the means of providing semi- and fully-automated feedback associated with nonverbal messaging, and a series of preliminary studies developed to inform the research. Furthermore, we outline future research directions on new case studies, and multimodal annotation and analysis, in order to understand the synchrony of acoustic features and gestures in teaching context.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2016
- Identifier
- CFE0006260, ucf:51053
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0006260
- Title
- An Urban School District's Preparing New Principals Program: Completers' Perceptions of Program Effectiveness Related to Florida Principal Leadership Standards Adopted in 2011.
- Creator
-
Pelletier, Kelly, Taylor, Rosemarye, Doherty, Walter, Baldwin, Gordon, Kennedy, Mary, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
-
The purpose of this study was to measure the extent to which school leaders who completed the preparing new principals program in a large urban school district perceived the program's effectiveness in preparing them to demonstrate Florida's principal leadership standards as adopted in November 2011. This study also identified the components of the preparing new principals program that influenced the professional practice of the program completers in their current leadership roles. The...
Show moreThe purpose of this study was to measure the extent to which school leaders who completed the preparing new principals program in a large urban school district perceived the program's effectiveness in preparing them to demonstrate Florida's principal leadership standards as adopted in November 2011. This study also identified the components of the preparing new principals program that influenced the professional practice of the program completers in their current leadership roles. The Preparing New Principals Program Completer Survey was sent to 90 administrators in School District A who completed the preparing new principals program between 2008 and 2011. Follow-up interviews were conducted with six volunteers in order to further clarify responses to the survey and gather additional input from program completers. Survey results as well as interview data were analyzed in order to give information for designing a new principal preparation program for School District A.The literature review and the results of this study supported the premise that preparing principals for school leadership in 2013 involves more than developing management skills and knowledge of the functions of a school. Principals must be instructional leaders with an unwavering focus on student achievement. Overall, results of the study found the PNPP in the urban school district supported the participant's awareness of the FPLS and also showed they perceived they were prepared to demonstrate the majority of the standards. However, the individual requirements and experiences of the PNPP had varying levels of perceived value to the professional practice of the participants. Results of the study recommended the PNPP experiences perceived to be invaluable or not practical should be evaluated for applicability, revised accordingly or possibly eliminated to improve the effectiveness of the PNPP.Although the structure of principal preparation programs in the state of Florida are unique due to laws that created a two leveled principal certification process, the findings and conclusions of this research study could be useful to any school district working to develop future principals. Suggested improvements to the PNPP included a longer principal internship, a strengthened mentor relationship, an application process for initial program entry, differentiated experiences, and an emphasis on increasing teacher effectiveness.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2013
- Identifier
- CFE0004909, ucf:49619
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0004909
- Title
- A Multimedia Approach to Game-Based Training: Exploring the Effects of the Modality and Temporal Contiguity Principles on Learning in a Virtual Environment.
- Creator
-
Serge, Stephen, Mouloua, Mustapha, Bohil, Corey, Bowers, Clint, Priest Walker, Heather, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
-
There is an increasing interest in using video games as a means to deliver training to individuals learning new skills or tasks. However, current research lacks a clear method of developing effective instructional material when these games are used as training tools and explaining how gameplay may affect learning. The literature contains multiple approaches to training and GBT but generally lacks a foundational-level and theoretically relevant approach to how people learn specifically from...
Show moreThere is an increasing interest in using video games as a means to deliver training to individuals learning new skills or tasks. However, current research lacks a clear method of developing effective instructional material when these games are used as training tools and explaining how gameplay may affect learning. The literature contains multiple approaches to training and GBT but generally lacks a foundational-level and theoretically relevant approach to how people learn specifically from video games and how to design instructional guidance within these gaming environments. This study investigated instructional delivery within GBT. Video games are a form of multimedia, consisting of both imagery and sounds. The Cognitive Theory of Multimedia Learning (CTML; Mayer 2005) explicitly describes how people learn from multimedia information, consisting of a combination of narration (words) and animation (pictures). This study empirically examined the effects of the modality and temporal contiguity principles on learning in a game-based virtual environment. Based on these principles, it was hypothesized that receiving either voice or embedded training would result in better performance on learning measures. Additionally, receiving a combination of voice and embedded training would lead to better performance on learning measures than all other instructional conditions.A total of 128 participants received training on the role and procedures related to the combat lifesaver (-) a non-medical soldier who receives additional training on combat-relevant lifesaving medical procedures. Training sessions involved an instructional presentation manipulated along the modality (voice or text) and temporal contiguity (embedded in the game or presented before gameplay) principles. Instructional delivery was manipulated in a 2x2 between-subjects design with four instructional conditions: Upfront-Voice, Upfront-Text, Embedded-Voice, and Embedded-Text. Results indicated that: (1) upfront instruction led to significantly better retention performance than embedded instructional regardless of delivery modality; (2) receiving voice-based instruction led to better transfer performance than text-based instruction regardless of presentation timing; (3) no differences in performance were observed on the simple application test between any instructional conditions; and (4) a significant interaction of modality-by-temporal contiguity was obtained. Simple effects analysis indicated differing effects along modality within the embedded instruction group, with voice recipients performing better than text (p = .012). Individual group comparisons revealed that the upfront-voice group performed better on retention than both embedded groups (p = .006), the embedded-voice group performed better on transfer than the upfront text group (p = .002), and the embedded-voice group performed better on the complex application test than the embedded-text group (p =.012). Findings indicated partial support for the application of the modality and temporal contiguity principles of CTML in interactive GBT. Combining gameplay (i.e., practice) with instructional presentation both helps and hinders working memory's ability to process information. Findings also explain how expanding CTML into game-based training may fundamentally change how a person processes information as a function of the specific type of knowledge being taught. Results will drive future systematic research to test and determine the most effective means of designing instruction for interactive GBT. Further theoretical and practical implications will be discussed.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2014
- Identifier
- CFE0005548, ucf:50271
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0005548
- Title
- Phosphatidic Acid Increases Lean Body Tissue and Strength In Resistance Trained Men.
- Creator
-
Williams, David, Hoffman, Jay, Fragala, Maren, Stout, Jeffrey, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
-
ABSTRACTPhosphatidic Acid (PA) is a natural phospholipid compound derived from lecithin which is commonly found in egg yolk, grains, fish, soybeans, peanuts and yeast. It has been suggested that PA is involved in several intracellular processes associated with muscle hypertrophy. Specifically, PA has been reported to activate protein synthesis through the mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) signaling pathway and thereby may enhance the anabolic effects of resistance training. To our...
Show moreABSTRACTPhosphatidic Acid (PA) is a natural phospholipid compound derived from lecithin which is commonly found in egg yolk, grains, fish, soybeans, peanuts and yeast. It has been suggested that PA is involved in several intracellular processes associated with muscle hypertrophy. Specifically, PA has been reported to activate protein synthesis through the mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) signaling pathway and thereby may enhance the anabolic effects of resistance training. To our knowledge, no one has examined the effect of PA supplementation in humans while undergoing a progressive resistance training program. To examine the effect of PA supplementation on lean soft tissue mass (LM) and strength after 8 weeks of resistance training.Fourteen resistance-trained men (mean (&)#177; SD; age 22.7 (&)#177; 3.3 yrs; height: 1.78 (&)#177; 0.10m; weight: 89.3 (&)#177; 16.3 kg) volunteered to participate in this randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, repeated measures study. The participants were assigned to a PA group (750mg/day; Mediator(&)#174;, ChemiNutra, MN, n=7) or placebo group (PL; rice flower; n=7), delivered in capsule form that was identical in size, shape and color. Participants were tested for 1RM strength in the bench press (BP) and squat (SQ) exercise. LM was measured using dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry. After base line testing, the participants began supplementing PA or PLfor 8 weeks during a progressive resistance training program intended for muscular hypertrophy. Data was analyzed using magnitude-based inferences on mean changes for BP, SQ and LM. Furthermore, the magnitudes of the inter-relationships between changes in total training volume and LM were interpreted using Pearson correlation coefficients, which had uncertainty (90% confidence limits) of approximately +0.25.In the PA group, the relationship between changes in training volume and LM was large(r=0.69, +0.27; 90%CL), however, in the PL group the relationship was small (r=0.21, +0.44; 90%CL). PA supplementation was determined to be likely beneficial at improving SQ and LM over PL by 26% and 64%, respectively. The strong relationship between changes in total training volume and LM in the PA group suggest that greater training volume most likely lead to the greater changes in LM, however, no such relationship was found with PL group. For the BP data, the PA group resulted in a 42% greater increase in strength over PL, although the effect was considered unclear. While more research is needed to elucidate mechanism of action; the current findings suggest that in experienced resistance trained men supplementing 750mg PA per day for 8 weeks may likely benefit greater changes in muscle mass and strength compared with resistance training only. ?
Show less - Date Issued
- 2012
- Identifier
- CFE0004641, ucf:49897
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0004641
- Title
- A multimedia pedestrian safety program and school infrastructure: Finding the connection to pedestrian risk-taking attitudes and perceptions of pedestrian behavior.
- Creator
-
Scott, Diana, Hoffman, Bobby, Sivo, Stephen, Porter, Robert, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
-
Approximately 47,700 pedestrians were killed between the years of 2000 - 2009. School buses are one of the safest modes of transportation (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 2004). However, the Central Florida school district eliminated bus transportation within the 2-mile radius from schools just last year. Children must prepare for an alternative mode of transportation; walking and biking. The purpose of this research was two-fold. First to develop an online safety training...
Show moreApproximately 47,700 pedestrians were killed between the years of 2000 - 2009. School buses are one of the safest modes of transportation (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 2004). However, the Central Florida school district eliminated bus transportation within the 2-mile radius from schools just last year. Children must prepare for an alternative mode of transportation; walking and biking. The purpose of this research was two-fold. First to develop an online safety training program for elementary school children; and second, a self-report questionnaire was constructed and piloted to measure how safety training and school infrastructure affects students' pedestrian risk-taking attitudes and risk perceptions to avoid the dangers of walking and biking to and from school. A 2x2 Factorial Multivariate Analysis of Variance (MANOVA) was used to test two categorical independent variables (safety awareness training, school infrastructure) for each of the two continuous dependent variables (pedestrian risk-taking attitudes and risk perceptions of pedestrian behavior). Using data from the pilot study, the researcher developed, self-reported questionnaires demonstrated that there was a significant difference between schools. Those receiving the training had lower mean scores in risk-taking attitudes than those who did not receive the training. Regardless of intervention, School 2 (complete infrastructure) takes fewer risks than School 1(incomplete infrastructure). The mean difference between groups was not statistically significant.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2014
- Identifier
- CFE0005248, ucf:50590
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0005248
- Title
- Endocrine and Contralateral Muscle Responses to Short-term Unilateral Resistance Training.
- Creator
-
Boone, Carleigh, Fragala, Maren, Hoffman, Jay, Stout, Jeffrey, Fukuda, David, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
-
PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of short-term lower body unilateral resistance training on hormonal, muscle morphological, and performance measures in young men. METHODS: Seventeen healthy, untrained young men (Age: 22.8 (&)#177; 3.7 y; BMI: 26.5 (&)#177; 4.9 kg/m2) were randomly assigned to one of two groups (UT: 22.9 (&)#177; 4.6 y, 25.3 (&)#177; 4.2 kg/m2; CON: 24.0 (&)#177; 4.6 y, 27.7 (&)#177; 5.1 kg/m2). Resistance training consisted of 4 weeks of...
Show morePURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of short-term lower body unilateral resistance training on hormonal, muscle morphological, and performance measures in young men. METHODS: Seventeen healthy, untrained young men (Age: 22.8 (&)#177; 3.7 y; BMI: 26.5 (&)#177; 4.9 kg/m2) were randomly assigned to one of two groups (UT: 22.9 (&)#177; 4.6 y, 25.3 (&)#177; 4.2 kg/m2; CON: 24.0 (&)#177; 4.6 y, 27.7 (&)#177; 5.1 kg/m2). Resistance training consisted of 4 weeks of unilateral lower body and bilateral upper body exercises on 3 days per week. Each training session entailed unilateral countermovement jumps (3 (&)#215; 8), unilateral leg press (LP), bilateral chest press (CP), unilateral leg extension (LE), and bilateral low row (LR). Strength exercises were performed for 3 sets of 8-10 repetitions; lower body exercises were performed with the dominant leg only. Muscle thickness (MT), pennation angle (PA), cross-sectional area (CSA), and echo-intensity (EI) of the vastus lateralis (VL) and rectus femoris (RF) muscles of both legs was assessed via ultrasound. Fascicle length (FL) was calculated as [MT / sin(PA)]. Maximal dynamic unilateral LP and LE strength was assessed during one-repetition maximum (1RM) testing; CP and LR 1RM strength was estimated as [repetition weight/(1.0278-0.0278)(reps)]. Maximal isometric knee extensor strength was isolaterally assessed via maximal voluntary contraction (MVC) testing. Mean and peak power output (Watts) was quantified during unilateral countermovement jumps via accelerometry. Fasting concentrations of total testosterone and growth hormone were obtained at baseline (PRE), immediately post (IP), 30-minutes post (30P), and 60-minutes post (60P) during both testing exercise sessions (Pre and Post). Following the 4-week intervention, all participants' maximal dynamic and isometric strength, mean and peak power output, muscle morphology, and hormonal responses were reassessed. Performance, ultrasound, and area under the curve data were analyzed using ANCOVA to observe between-group comparisons while controlling for baseline (PRE) values. Endocrine data were analyzed using a two-way, mixed-factorial repeated-measures ANOVA. RESULTS: Participants in the UT group experienced significant strength improvements of the trained (28 to 150%) and untrained legs (12 to 160%). Training did not elicit significant improvements in maximal isometric strength or power output of the trained or untrained leg. The trained RF experienced significant increases in CSA and MT. The trained VL experienced a significant increase in CSA. Muscle size of the untrained leg was not significantly augmented. Training did not elicit changes in the acute hormonal response to exercise. CONCLUSIONS: Four weeks of unilateral lower body resistance training using the dominant leg appears sufficient to evoke strength gains of both the ipsilateral and contralateral legs. However, meaningful morphological changes were observed in the trained leg only. Differences in acute hormonal responses to resistance exercise did not appear to explain the observed differences. In addition, unilateral lower body resistance training did not appear to augment the acute endocrine response to an acute bout of resistance exercise. Current findings suggest that the cross-educational strength transfer during the early stage of training is attributable to factors other than changes in muscle morphology and circulating hormones.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2014
- Identifier
- CFE0005307, ucf:50538
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0005307
- Title
- MODELING AUTONOMOUS AGENTS IN MILITARY SIMULATIONS.
- Creator
-
Kaptan, Varol, Gelenbe, Erol, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
-
Simulation is an important tool for prediction and assessment of the behavior of complex systems and situations. The importance of simulation has increased tremendously during the last few decades, mainly because the rapid pace of development in the field of electronics has turned the computer from a costly and obscure piece of equipment to a cheap ubiquitous tool which is now an integral part of our daily lives. While such technological improvements make it easier to analyze well-understood...
Show moreSimulation is an important tool for prediction and assessment of the behavior of complex systems and situations. The importance of simulation has increased tremendously during the last few decades, mainly because the rapid pace of development in the field of electronics has turned the computer from a costly and obscure piece of equipment to a cheap ubiquitous tool which is now an integral part of our daily lives. While such technological improvements make it easier to analyze well-understood deterministic systems, increase in speed and storage capacity alone are not enough when simulating situations where human beings and their behavior are an integral part of the system being studied. The problem with simulation of intelligent entities is that intelligence is still not well understood and it seems that the field of Artificial Intelligence (AI) has a long way to go before we get computers to think like humans. Behavior-based agent modeling has been proposed in mid-80's as one of the alternatives to the classical AI approach. While used mainly for the control of specialized robotic vehicles with very specific sensory capabilities and limited intelligence, we believe that a behavior-based approach to modeling generic autonomous agents in complex environments can provide promising results. To this end, we are investigating a behavior-based model for controlling groups of collaborating and competing agents in a geographic terrain. In this thesis, we are focusing on scenarios of military nature, where agents can move within the environment and adversaries can eliminate each other through use of weapons. Different aspects of agent behavior like navigation to a goal or staying in group formation, are implemented by distinct behavior modules and the final observed behavior for each agent is an emergent property of the combination of simple behaviors and their interaction with the environment. Our experiments show that while such an approach is quite efficient in terms of computational power, it has some major drawbacks. One of the problems is that reactive behavior-based navigation algorithms are not well suited for environments with complex mobility constraints where they tend to perform much worse than proper path planning. This problem represents an important research question, especially when it is considered that most of the modern military conflicts and operations occur in urban environments. One of the contributions of this thesis is a novel approach to reactive navigation where goals and terrain information are fused based on the idea of transforming a terrain with obstacles into a virtual obstacle-free terrain. Experimental results show that our approach can successfully combine the low run-time computational complexity of reactive methods with the high success rates of classical path planning. Another interesting research problem is how to deal with the unpredictable nature of emergent behavior. It is not uncommon to have situations where an outcome diverges significantly from the intended behavior of the agents due to highly complex nonlinear interactions with other agents or the environment itself. Chances of devising a formal way to predict and avoid such abnormalities are slim at best, mostly because such complex systems tend to be be chaotic in nature. Instead, we focus on detection of deviations through tracking group behavior which is a key component of the total situation awareness capability required by modern technology-oriented and network-centric warfare. We have designed a simple and efficient clustering algorithm for tracking of groups of agent suitable for both spatial and behavioral domain. We also show how to detect certain events of interest based on a temporal analysis of the evolution of discovered clusters.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2006
- Identifier
- CFE0001494, ucf:47099
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0001494
- Title
- TRAUMA-FOCUSED MODELS FOR CAREGIVERS: A SYSTEMATIC REVIEW OF EMPIRICAL RESEARCH.
- Creator
-
Paul, Wesley, Lawrence, Shawn, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
-
Child and Adolescent caregivers are rarely the focus of research and/or trauma-focused or informed models when working with traumatized children (Baynard, Englund, & Rozelle, 2001; Chapman, Dube, & Anda, 2007). It has been shown that use of caregivers in the treatment of children who have suffered trauma can have a significant impact on not only the child, but also reduce the trauma symptoms of the caregivers themselves (Cohen, Mannarino, & Staron, 2006). The purpose of this study is to...
Show moreChild and Adolescent caregivers are rarely the focus of research and/or trauma-focused or informed models when working with traumatized children (Baynard, Englund, & Rozelle, 2001; Chapman, Dube, & Anda, 2007). It has been shown that use of caregivers in the treatment of children who have suffered trauma can have a significant impact on not only the child, but also reduce the trauma symptoms of the caregivers themselves (Cohen, Mannarino, & Staron, 2006). The purpose of this study is to critically review the empirical research of trauma-focused and trauma-informed trainings and treatment models for children who have suffered some form of trauma and whose caregiver is included in the treatment. The outcomes of trauma-focused models will be examined in terms of its purpose, intervention, facilitation, adaptability and modification. Implications for further research and application are drawn.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2013
- Identifier
- CFH0004369, ucf:45026
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFH0004369
- Title
- EDUCATIONAL HANDHELD VIDEO: EXAMINING SHOT COMPOSITION, GRAPHIC DESIGN, AND THEIR IMPACT ON LEARNING.
- Creator
-
Hutchens, Jason, Taylor, Rosemarye, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
-
Formal features of video such as shot composition and graphic design can weigh heavily on the success or failure of educational videos. Many studies have assessed the proper use of these techniques given the psychological expectations that viewers have for video programming (Hawkins et al., 2002; Kenny, 2002; Lang, Zhou, Schwardtz, Bolls, & Potter, 2000; McCain, Chilberg, & Wakshlag, 1977; McCain & Repensky, 1972; Miller, 2005; Morris, 1984; Roe, 1998; Schmitt, Anderson, & Collins, 1999;...
Show moreFormal features of video such as shot composition and graphic design can weigh heavily on the success or failure of educational videos. Many studies have assessed the proper use of these techniques given the psychological expectations that viewers have for video programming (Hawkins et al., 2002; Kenny, 2002; Lang, Zhou, Schwardtz, Bolls, & Potter, 2000; McCain, Chilberg, & Wakshlag, 1977; McCain & Repensky, 1972; Miller, 2005; Morris, 1984; Roe, 1998; Schmitt, Anderson, & Collins, 1999; Sherman & Etling, 1991; Tannenbaum & Fosdick, 1960; Wagner, 1953). This study examined formal features within the context of the newly emerging distribution method of viewing video productions on mobile handheld devices. Shot composition and graphic design were examined in the context of an educational video to measure whether or not they had any influence on user perceptions of learning and learning outcomes. The two formal features were modified for display on 24 inch screens and on 3.5 inch or smaller screens. Participants were shown one of the four modified treatments, then presented with a test to measure whether or not the modified formal features had any impact or influence on learning outcomes from a sample of 132 undergraduate college students. No significant differences were found to occur as a result of manipulation of formal features between the treatment groups.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2008
- Identifier
- CFE0002371, ucf:47797
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0002371
- Title
- Leveraging Help Requests in POMDP Intelligent Tutors.
- Creator
-
Folsom-Kovarik, Jeremiah, Sukthankar, Gita, Schatz, Sarah, Gonzalez, Avelino, Shumaker, Randall, Schatz, Sarah, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
-
Intelligent tutoring systems (ITSs) are computer programs that model individual learners and adapt instruction to help each learner differently. One way ITSs differ from human tutors is that few ITSs give learners a way to ask questions. When learners can ask for help, their questions have the potential to improve learning directly and also act as a new source of model data to help the ITS personalize instruction. Inquiry modeling gives ITSs the ability to answer learner questions and refine...
Show moreIntelligent tutoring systems (ITSs) are computer programs that model individual learners and adapt instruction to help each learner differently. One way ITSs differ from human tutors is that few ITSs give learners a way to ask questions. When learners can ask for help, their questions have the potential to improve learning directly and also act as a new source of model data to help the ITS personalize instruction. Inquiry modeling gives ITSs the ability to answer learner questions and refine their learner models with an inexpensive new input channel.In order to support inquiry modeling, an advanced planning formalism is applied to ITS learner modeling. Partially observable Markov decision processes (POMDPs) differ from more widely used ITS architectures because they can plan complex action sequences in uncertain situations with machine learning. Tractability issues have previously precluded POMDP use in ITS models. This dissertation introduces two improvements, priority queues and observation chains, to make POMDPs scale well and encompass the large problem sizes that real-world ITSs must confront. A new ITS was created to support trainees practicing a military task in a virtual environment. The development of the Inquiry Modeling POMDP Adaptive Trainer (IMP) began with multiple formative studies on human and simulated learners that explored inquiry modeling and POMDPs in intelligent tutoring. The studies suggest the new POMDP representations will be effective in ITS domains having certain common characteristics.Finally, a summative study evaluated IMP's ability to train volunteers in specific practice scenarios. IMP users achieved post-training scores averaging up to 4.5 times higher than users who practiced without support and up to twice as high as trainees who used an ablated version of IMP with no inquiry modeling. IMP's implementation and evaluation helped explore questions about how inquiry modeling and POMDP ITSs work, while empirically demonstrating their efficacy.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2012
- Identifier
- CFE0004506, ucf:49262
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0004506
- Title
- Exploration of the Impact of Affective Variables on Human Performance in a Live Simulation.
- Creator
-
Westerlund, Ken, Kincaid, John, Sims, Valerie, Chin, Matthew, VanderVeen, Cornelius, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
-
Live simulations play an important role in allowing users to practice and develop skills they learn in training. Although live simulations are playing an increasingly important role in training, ways to improve them are not well understood or documented. In order to improve the efficacy of live simulation and maximize results from funds spent on training; this research examines the relationship between the affective variables of the participants and their performance in the live simulation....
Show moreLive simulations play an important role in allowing users to practice and develop skills they learn in training. Although live simulations are playing an increasingly important role in training, ways to improve them are not well understood or documented. In order to improve the efficacy of live simulation and maximize results from funds spent on training; this research examines the relationship between the affective variables of the participants and their performance in the live simulation. Prior to participating in the instructor development live simulation used in this study two training preference scales were administered to a group of trainees. These scales measured the trainees' locus of control and immersion tendencies. During the live simulation the trainees' performance was evaluated by a panel of expert observers. The trainees also self-reported their performance through the use of a self-rating instrument. Analysis of the data revealed significant positive correlations between the trainees' internal locus of control and their performance in the simulation, both self-reported (p=0.026) and as reported by the expert observers (p=0.033). The correlation between immersion tendency scores and performance in the live simulation were mixed; while not always statistically significant they did reveal some slight positive correlation. This research did provide a number of lessons learned and implications for instructional and simulation developers wishing to employ live simulation in a training environment. These include performance of sub-populations within the greater population of subjects, consideration of roles assigned to participants, and the need to increase presence within the live simulation. Application of these lessons learned can reduce training costs and/or improve the effectiveness of live simulation in a training environment, this in turn can be of significant benefit to instructional and simulation designers. Additionally, understanding these relationships can lead to better assignments of roles or activities within live simulation and improve the transfer of experience from live simulation training to on the job performance. However, additional research needs to be conducted in order to make more conclusive statements regarding the most appropriate affective variable that would allow for predicting transfer of the simulated experience to the 'real' world, the individuals who would benefit most from live simulation, and to develop additional prescriptive methods for improving live simulation utilized in training environments.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2013
- Identifier
- CFE0004958, ucf:49578
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0004958
- Title
- IS THERE A RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN PRE-SERVICE TRAINING, IN-SERVICE TRAINING, EXPERIENCE, AND COUNSELOR'S SELF-EFFICACY AND WHETHER THEY WORK WITH STUDENTS WITH SPECIAL NEEDS?.
- Creator
-
Lewis, Sally, Robinson, III and B. Grant Hayes, E.H., University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
-
This study elaborated on the development of school counselor's feelings of self-efficacy in working with students with special needs and how self-efficacy affects school counselor's roles with students with special needs. More specifically, this study addressed a number of topics in researching the impact of pre-service training, experience and in-service training for Professional School Counselors (PSCs) on their feelings of self-efficacy in working with students with special needs....
Show moreThis study elaborated on the development of school counselor's feelings of self-efficacy in working with students with special needs and how self-efficacy affects school counselor's roles with students with special needs. More specifically, this study addressed a number of topics in researching the impact of pre-service training, experience and in-service training for Professional School Counselors (PSCs) on their feelings of self-efficacy in working with students with special needs. This study will present a historical review of the development of Professional School Counselor roles. In addition, an analysis of the development of comprehensive developmental guidance programs in schools and suggested frameworks was conducted including students with special needs. Also, conducted were reviews of studies conducted with Professional School Counselors (PSCs) regarding their roles with students with special needs, their feelings of preparedness, and their training; and reviews of several studies of counselor education programs in the area of special needs training and experiential opportunities offered. Lastly, the pragmatic and theory base for self-efficacy found in the literature was explored. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between experience with special needs, pre-service education and in-service training regarding students with special needs and counselor's self-efficacy and roles they perform with students with special needs. The research for this study was conducted by survey at the Georgia School Counselor Association's fall conference in Atlanta, Georgia; the South Carolina School CounselorAssociation'sfall conference in Columbia, South Carolina; the North Carolina School Counselor Association's fall conference in Greensboro, North Carolina; and Florida School Counselors on Survey Monkey. The participating states counselors also had access to the survey via the internet based survey service Survey Monkey. 410 PSCs from Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, and Florida completed the survey. 372 of the surveys met completion criteria and were included in the survey results (N = 372). Results of a factor analysis, a descriptive statistical analysis and a multi-step regression indicated the relationship between the five of the ratings and their combinations of self-efficacy and time spent in performing roles with students with special needs had a statistically significant relationship as measured on the survey. The two types of experience and in-service quality had a statistically significant relationship with the combination rating of self-efficacy as measured on the survey. The research question is: Does pre-service training, in-service training and experience have an impact on professional school counselor's self-efficacy and whether or not they perform a role with children and adolescents with special needs. The following statements are the hypotheses for this research: There is a relationship between the two types of experience as measured by rating on the survey, pre-service training and in-service training as measured by quality and quantity on the survey, their self-efficacy in working with students with special needs as measured on the survey, and the roles that PSCs perform as measured by the frequency that they perform roles on the survey.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2010
- Identifier
- CFE0003160, ucf:48613
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0003160
- Title
- Applications of Artificial Intelligence in Military Simulation.
- Creator
-
Golovcsenko, Igor V., Biegel, John E., Engineering
- Abstract / Description
-
University of Central Florida College of Engineering Thesis; This report is a survey of Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology contributions to military training. It provides an overview of military training simulation and a review of instructional problems and challenges which can be addressed by AI. The survey includes current as well as potential applications of AI, with particular emphasis on design and system integration issues. Applications include knowledge and skills training in...
Show moreUniversity of Central Florida College of Engineering Thesis; This report is a survey of Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology contributions to military training. It provides an overview of military training simulation and a review of instructional problems and challenges which can be addressed by AI. The survey includes current as well as potential applications of AI, with particular emphasis on design and system integration issues. Applications include knowledge and skills training in strategic planning and decision making, tactical warfare operations, electronics maintenance and repair, as well as computer-aided design of training systems. The report describes research contributions in the application of AI technology to the training world, and it concludes with an assessment of future research directions in this area.
Show less - Date Issued
- 1987
- Identifier
- CFR0011599, ucf:53044
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFR0011599
- Title
- Integrated Maritime Simulation Complex Management, Quality And Training Effectiveness From The Perspective Of Modeling And Simulation In The State Of Florida, USA (A Case Study).
- Creator
-
Sendi, Yaser, Kincaid, John, Rabelo, Luis, Lee, Gene, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
-
Naturally, maritime training simulators at all events are valuable instructional and pedagogical tools. Through the history, the maritime simulation was utilized to train prospective maritime apprentices in whom it has filled the gap left by the acute shortage of opportunities for jobs onboard vessels around the globe. However, professional seafarers are the axis of success and competitiveness in the field of maritime training. They are the ones that, who are well trained and have the...
Show moreNaturally, maritime training simulators at all events are valuable instructional and pedagogical tools. Through the history, the maritime simulation was utilized to train prospective maritime apprentices in whom it has filled the gap left by the acute shortage of opportunities for jobs onboard vessels around the globe. However, professional seafarers are the axis of success and competitiveness in the field of maritime training. They are the ones that, who are well trained and have the responsibilities of their work and the surrounding environment. In order to achieve the success along with effective training skills, both maritime companies and seafarers should implement a management of safety onboard ships, which only can be executed through the effective usage of the Bridge Resource Management (BRM) and righteous maritime simulation training.Qualitative upgrading of the maritime training process at higher education levels depends predominantly on the instructive value of the instructors' educational software and the content of these programs which contains advanced and intelligent scenarios that benefit positively in providing effective training in order to, transfer and implement their gained skills from virtual reality to the actual environment with minimal risks and additionally to avoid the unforeseen occurrences at sea. The outcomes of the evaluation have shown the instructional suitability of the maritime educational scheme and significant capabilities, it provides, as well as the domains and frameworks for its instructional development. The above facts are substantial in the refinement and improvement of the current maritime education and growth of the apprentices' capabilities and the professionalism of their skills, along with the farthest purpose of creating more educated marine navigators in the worldwide merchant fleet.This research proposes and demonstrates in details the purpose of the maritime simulation training complexes, the elements that if provided, will lead to an effective maritime simulation training, types of maritime simulation, the International Maritime Organization (IMO), its tools and its power for the effectiveness of the maritime simulation training through different conventions (&) codes and the future for the maritime simulation training, in order to emphasize and accentuate the interplay between instructors and apprentices in an integrated maritime simulation complex on which a serious maritime event is taking place.The distillation of this thesis draws an attention to the effectiveness of the partnership between maritime apprentices and their instructors across a maritime simulation training complex scheme during a virtual maritime scenario event in an advanced facilities located in the state of Florida, which is armed with modern technology, provides both added stimulation for the apprentice himself and elevates the simulator a degree toward a vessel for practical training and/or sailing.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2015
- Identifier
- CFE0005999, ucf:50787
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0005999
- Title
- Designing a Virtual Embedded Scenario-Based Military Simulation Training Program using Educational and Design Instructional Strategies.
- Creator
-
Cook, Christina, Hopp, Carolyn, Gunter, Glenda, Hewitt, Randall, Vitale, Thomas, University of Central Florida
- Abstract / Description
-
The purpose of this dissertation in practice was to develop and implement a new training program for designers of military intelligence simulation scenarios used to train soldiers. The use of education and design instructional strategies assisted in the ability for designers to gain mastery skills in creating realistic, high-fidelity scenarios that are applied in the training process. The use of simulation scenarios to train adult learners has increased significantly with improvements in...
Show moreThe purpose of this dissertation in practice was to develop and implement a new training program for designers of military intelligence simulation scenarios used to train soldiers. The use of education and design instructional strategies assisted in the ability for designers to gain mastery skills in creating realistic, high-fidelity scenarios that are applied in the training process. The use of simulation scenarios to train adult learners has increased significantly with improvements in technology and its fidelity to engage learners in a realistic way. Despite these advances, the lack of effective design, implementation and analysis of military simulation training programs in the military intelligence community has led to a decrease in simulation utilization, as in the case of the organization examined in this problem of practice. The current training program's increasing difficulties with consistent use by military intelligence simulation scenario designers were discovered in the results of a gap analysis conducted in 2014, prompting this design. This simulation design aimed to examine: (1) a research-based design methodology to match training requirements for the designers, (2) formative assessment of performance and (3) a research-based evaluation framework to determine the effectiveness of the new training program. For the organization's training program, a Simulation-Based Embedded Training (SBET) solution using scenarios was conceived based on research grounded in cognitive theory and instructional design considerations for simulations. As a structured framework for how to design and implement an effective and sustained training program, the educational instructional design model, ADDIE, was used. This model allowed for continual flexibility in each phase to evaluate and implement changes iteratively. The instructional model and its techniques were used with fidelity, specifically for training the designers of the simulation system. Industries will continue to increase the use of simulation as advances in technologies offer more realistic, safe, and complex training environments.A detailed strategy was provided specific to the organization using a research-based instructional approach integrated into program requirements set forth by the government. This proposed solution, supported by research in the application of instructional strategies, is specific to this organization; however, the training program design differs from other high-fidelity military simulator training programs through its use of dispersed training to the simulation scenario designers using realistic scenarios to mimic the tasks that the designers themselves must create. The difference in the solution in this dissertation in practice is: 1) that the simulation scenarios are designed without the help of subject matter experts by using the embedded instructional strategies and 2) the design is to the fidelity of realism required for military intelligence training exercises.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2018
- Identifier
- CFE0006990, ucf:51617
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0006990
