Rule Base and Digital Video Technologies Applied to Training Simulations

The Advanced Learning Technologies Project developed a digital video course on code inspections from 1987 to 1990. The essence of this course is an environment in which a student participates in a code inspection as a contributing reviewer of the code. The student chooses an inspection role, and later assumes all the responsibilities of that role while performing in a code inspection simulation. The student is an active participant in the code inspection, and his or her contributions affect the course of the inspection dialogue and ultimately the success of the inspection. In addition, the role the student takes in the inspection is not predetermined but is selected by the student. To provide this flexibility, a rule base is used to control the code inspection simulation. To participate effectively in the code inspection, the student needs to recognize and react to the other reviewers' comments and their emotional states. The i mportance of group process issues necessitates that the inspection simulation be presented as realistically as possible while still preserving the flexibility of dynamic role selection and active participation. The code inspection course makes use of digital video for dynamic scene creation in addressing this requirement. These techniques are applicable beyond the code inspection course to other instructional simulations. The synergistic effects of using digital multimedia to improve visual fidelity along with rule bases for behavioral modeling and dynamic scene creation can significantly improve the utility of low-cost simulators and part-task trainers.