Michael G Shanley

RAND Corporation researchers reviewed metrics for evaluating research portfolios used by medical research organizations and appraised their characteristics and trade-offs associated with their use. This report presents the results, categorized using a logic-model approach, to help organizations responsible for research portfolios to select, develop, and revise the metrics they use in their evaluations.

Civilian employers may not appreciate the full value veterans can bring to their organizations, because military and civilian workplace cultures and languages can seem radically different from one another. This report describes a methodology for describing the nontechnical skills developed through military training, education, and on-the-job experiences in civilian terms.

This report presents the results of a project supporting the Army s efforts to adapt its weapon training strategies to better support operational requirements and unit readiness processes, take full advantage of training technologies, and increase efficiency. It outlines directions the Army could take to improve its weapon training strategies and the processes for adapting them."

The authors evaluated the effectiveness of the Common Core the first phase of the U.S. Army's system for developing critical thinking skills in its officer corps and the extent of differences among course venues: distributed, resident, and mixed delivery. Future evaluation should focus on whether the best possible outcomes within venues, rather than equivalent outcomes across venues, are achieved."

The U.S. Army s Command and General Staff School offers its Advanced Operations Course (AOC) for junior field-grade officers using both traditional resident instruction and a model referred to as blended distributed learning (BDL). This report assesses the effectiveness of AOC-BDL based on student and graduate surveys and identifies best practices for BDL from empirical research and case studies."

An important component of The Army Distributed Learning Programas (TADLPas) performance is the quality of its courses, which consist primarily of asynchronous interactive multimedia instruction (IMI). However, there are no current efforts to assess course quality at the program level. This report outlines a comprehensive approach to evaluating the quality of IMI within TADLP. In addition, it describes how a program-level evaluation program developed at RAND might be implemented within the U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC). RAND assessed the quality of the learning experience in a sample of recently fielded IMI courses, using criteria based on standards in the training development community. The analysis identifies strengths and deficiencies in technical, production quality, and pedagogical aspects of IMI courseware. This research demonstrates a feasible method for evaluation that can supply TRADOC with metrics concerning IMI quality, points to directions for needed improvements, and provides a basis for assessing improvement initiatives. The authors recommend adoption of this approach, as well as further development of other components of a comprehensive program of IMI training evaluation.

This study examined how the Advanced Distributed Learning (ADL) Initiative might encourage the reuse of digital training content as a strategy to reduce the cost of its development. While findings highlighted a number of current challenges with the reuse option, one conclusion is that ADL can foster more reuse by taking a proactive approach in supporting training development organizations that are attempting to implement a reuse strategy.

The Army wishes to improve its training strategy for Brigade Combat Teams equipped with Future Combat Systems (FCS) technologies. Key findings are that live training events will remain a cornerstone of FCS unit training, and that adaptation to changing operational requirements will be a challenge. Planned enhancements will provide important improvements for the system, but the overall training capability achieved will fall short of requirements.