A Comparison of Interactive Multimedia Instruction Designs Addressing Soldiers Learning Needs

This report is the third in a series of three, focusing on applying instructional design and tailored training techniques to address the Army Learning Models (ALM) point of need concept. Here, results are presented from an experiment testing three variations of needs-focused interactive multimedia instruction (IMI) for two topic domains, one more familiar to learners, and one less familiar. The three IMI variations were familiarization, core/refresher, and tailored training. The content domains were Adjust Indirect Fire (less familiar to the target audience) and Conduct a Defense by a Squad (more familiar to the target audience). The IMI content targeted new squad/team leaders (i.e., E-4 Specialist/Corporal and E-5 Sergeant). The experiment was conducted with 91 Soldiers enrolled in the Warrior Leaders Course at Fort Benning, GA. All the IMI variations were associated with increased test scores on posttests, but Soldiers in the less familiar topic condition benefitted from tailored training IMI significantly more than Soldiers in the more familiar topic condition. Tailored training design features, such as diagnostic assessment and individualized feedback, may support learners with less prior knowledge in selecting content to target their learning needs, similar to what more knowledgeable learners may already do.