Tailored Training in Army Courses

The research aimed to identify the different ways in which Army course instructors adapt or tailor their training to meet student needs. Interviews with 81 instructors from 51 courses across four installations were conducted. No single template existed regarding how instructors tailored their training, and some typical modes of tailoring were not described. Instructors provided details of how their courses were conducted, and they also discussed the impediments to tailored training. Characteristics of the courses and the instructors that increased the likelihood of tailored training were defined. Courses that have well-defined and enforced graduation requirements aimed at producing students with a high level of proficiency were the ones most likely to tailor training to student needs. The results imply that tailoring in Army courses, as a whole, is probably limited. The major factors related to tailored training, to include instructor expertise with relevant pedagogical skills and assessment techniques, are integrated in an overall model. Considerations regarding how to initiate tailoring in courses, and questions regarding tailored training in the Army that emerged from the research are presented. The original document contains color images.