1

Training Cultural Awareness in Military Operations in a Virtual Afghan Village: A Methodology

for Scenario Development

The 46th Annual Hawaii International Conference onSystem Sciences (HICSS)

January, 7-10 2013Wailea, Maui, HI, USA

Ekaterina Prasolova-Førland, Mikhail FominykhNorwegian University of Science and Technology, Norway

Ramin DarisiroNorwegian Armed Forces

Anders I. MørchUniversity of Oslo, Norway

2

Motivation (1)

o 3D virtual worlds and game-based simulations are to an increasing degree used for military training– demonstrating concepts and situations that are difficult, expensive

or unsafe to represent efficiently enough in a classroom setting o Operational culture: understanding culture is a

basic component of operational planning, training, and execution

o Lack of systematic, research-based methods for using game-based simulations in military training, especially in the area of cultural awareness – Few of the existing methods are published and systematized due to

security concerns or/and commercial interests

3

Motivation (2)o “…the (US) Army lacks both experience in using

GBS (Game-Based Simulations) within a training program as well as research-based training methods for using GBS in training. In addition, the use of GBS systems requires aids for scenario development, training practices, and performance measurement tools that do not exist”.

4

Tactical Iraqi (Pashto, Dari, Indonesian)

Source: Johnson, 2009; Surface et al., 2007; www.alelo.com

5

First Person Cultural Trainer

Source: Zielke, 2011; Zielke et al. 2010

6

Second Life: US Military islands

7

Cultural Awareness in Military Operations (CAMO): Project Goals

o create an inexpensive and flexible simulation for training cultural awareness among military personnel

o explore the advantages and limitations of 3D virtual worlds in this context

o create methodological guidelines and tools for developing 3D educational simulations for future use

8

Participants

o Norwegian Armed Forces:– Norwegian Defense University College (ADL)– Norwegian Army War Academy – Norwegian Defense Language and Intelligence School– Telemark Battalion– Norwegian Defense Media Center

o Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU)

o University of Oslo (UiO)

9

Theoretical and methodological background

o Theoretical basis– Situation Awareness theory (Endsley, 1995)– Naturalistic Decision Making approach (Klein, 2008; Caird-

Daley et al., 2009; Zsambok, 1997)o Existing methodologies

– UK Human Factors Integration Defence Technology Centre– The Royal Netherlands Army/TNO Defense, Security &

Safety/Delft University of Technology

10

Scenario development for military simulations

Source: Hartog, 2009

11

Learning goalso T. Tactics: general tactics (in a concrete cultural

context), e.g. identifying threats based on the relevant cues from the environment

o G. Gender: interacting with women in tribal/clan communities, e.g. how to act towards Afghan women

o R. Religion: dealing with religious customs and practices

o S. Socializing: observing local customs, e.g. when dealing with children, visiting a house

o L. Language: basic language skills for simple tasks like polite greeting, asking for directions, identifying security threats; interactions between the interpreter, the locals and the squad

12

Example: learning sub-goals and associated mini-scenarios

o Tactics T3. Securing an area (village/house)

o Religion R1. Correct behavior during a prayer

o Religion R2. Food during Ramadan

o Gender G1. Close contact with local women

o Social interaction S3. Dealing with children

o Language L1. Basic polite phrases in local language

13

Example: Gendero Learning goal G1:

Close contact with local women– Cues: a local woman asks

for/needs (medical) assistance

– Appropriate reaction: a female soldier approaches the woman, talks to her and provides necessary assistance

– Typical/possible mistake: a male soldier approaches the woman, talks to her and in the worst case touches her while attempting to provide assistance

– Typical response in case of mistake: the woman (other locals) gets upset/hostile, further efforts are needed to resolve the situation

14

Mini-scenarios => story example

o Scene 6. While passing by a house, the squad observes a crying local woman, visibly injured– Learning goals: G1. Close contact with local women + S5. Providing

medical assistance to local population + T1. Identifying possible threats + T2. Interaction within the squad + L1. Basic polite phrases in local language + L2. Interaction between the interpreter, the locals and the squad

– Cues to focus and reflect over– Responses and possible outcomes (”best/worst case”)– Instructions to the players + improvisation– Requirements for the virtual environment– Story = mission order + role definitions + ‘scenes’ + alternative

courses– REUSE!

15

Virtual Afghan village: Environment design

o Focus– Low cost– Short development time– Reusability

o Types of content– General content for creating the context and atmosphere– Specific content for specific mini-scenarios

o Phases– Design and search for the required content– Building and co-locating objects (reused in multiple places, copied,

and joined in different combinations)

16

CAMO evaluation

17

Mission Order

18

Evaluation results: an overviewo Study settings

– 14 cadets from Norwegian Army War Academy– 8 students and teachers from Norwegian Defense Language

and Intelligence School– Pre- and posttests, interviews, observations– 2 walk-throughs, 3 debriefs

o Major outcomes– Cadets positive to the use of 3D virtual worlds for training

cultural awareness– Learning outcomes related to the major topics in the scenarios– Learning from taking different perspectives, facing dilemmas,

observing squad leader actions

19

Feedbacks from the participantso Advantages:

– “I got very much out of it during a very short time”, “plenty of aha-experiences”

– “This (system) can provide several possibilities in a deployment environment to increase understanding among troops preparing for international operations”

– Immersion in the role– User-friendly, motivating, and fun experience

o Limitations/improvement suggestions:– Differentiation of scenarios and challenges according to the

different roles within the squad (active and peripheral participation)– Crowd simulation (important for identifying threats)– Limited selection of gestures and body language – Limited range for voice communication

20

Conclusions and future work (1)o Virtual worlds for cultural awareness training

– Flexible, inexpensive, suitable for distance education– Support for collaborative work and learning– Technological challenges

o Further development of methodology– Extension of existing learning goals and corresponding mini-

scenarios ‘database’– Adjustments for different destinations and different user

groups– Enhancing scenarios and the virtual environment with

‘dramatic’ elements– Formalization of role definitions, matching between rank and

difficulty levels

21

Conclusions and future work (2)o Integration with the existing educational

practices at the Norwegian Armed Forces– Combination of traditional classroom sessions and virtual

simulations– Testing of the developed methodology on other

platforms/caseso Possible usage areas

– Language training– Training negotiation skills– Reconvalescence (e.g. post-traumatic stress)– Recruitment– ‘Command and Control’ training– Mission rehearsal exercise– Civilian use

22

Questions?Feedbacks?

Ekaterina Prasolova-Førlandekaterip@idi.ntnu.no

Mikhail Fominykhmikhail.fominykh@svt.ntnu.no