An Approach to Fidelity in Training Simulation

Abstract : This paper presents some ideas concerning the development of fidelity recommendations in training simulation. Fidelity is a major issue partly due to an increasing concern that the amount/kind of fidelity incorporated in devices and simulators, as currently requested by the Army training schools, may not result in cost effective transfer of training. The approach of this paper is as follows: first, Army training programs are organized within a two-dimensional matrix within which training simulation is delimited; second, definitions, assumptions, and constraints underlying fidelity are discussed; and finally, a conceptual analysis which distinguishes between-media selection from within- media selection is presented. Within-media selection is viewed as an extension of Block III of Interservice Procedures for Instructional Systems Development (IPISD), 1975, and is discussed in the form of a set of procedures to guide the selection of the appropriate amount of fidelity.