Developing Accelerated Learning Models in GIFT for Medical Military and Civilian Training

This paper will discuss the protocol of an inter-institutional study between the Army Research Laboratory (ARL) and Columbia University Medical Center that seeks to identify pedagogical models that can be employed in the Generalized Intelligent Framework for Tutoring system (GIFT) to support the transfer of skills from training to operations in individual Soldiers within the domain of critical care, addressing topics in hemorrhage, airway compromise, and/or tension Pneumothorax. The scientific approach will include two studies. The first correlational study aims to examine the effect of human variability on learning, performance, retention, and transfer by using individual differences (e.g., personality traits, cognitive abilities, and motivation) as criteria to tailor individual training for Soldier learning needs. The second study will be an experiment to examine how the priming of analogical reasoning tasks effects the problem-solving outcomes of increasingly complex critical care case study content. The authors intend to incorporate the findings of these two studies to support the development of accelerating expert-level reasoning skills and strategies to achieve cognitive flexibility, one of two paths that has been identified as a way to accelerate proficiency.