Ekaterina Prasolova-Førland, Mikhail Fominykh, Ramin Darisiro, and Anders I. Mørch: "Training Cultural Awareness in Military Operations in a Virtual Afghan Village: A Methodology for Scenario Development," in the 46th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences (HICSS), Wailea, HI, USA, January 7–10, 2013, IEEE, ISBN: 978-1-4577-1925-7, pp. 903–912.

1. Training Cultural Awareness in
Military Operations in a Virtual
Afghan Village: A Methodology for
Scenario Development
Ekaterina Prasolova-Førland, Mikhail Fominykh
Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Norway
Ramin Darisiro
Norwegian Armed Forces
Anders I. Mørch
University of Oslo, Norway
The 46th Annual Hawaii International Conference on
System Sciences (HICSS)
January, 7-10 2013
Wailea, Maui, HI, USA
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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
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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”.
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4. Tactical Iraqi (Pashto, Dari,
Indonesian)
Source: Johnson, 2009; Surface et al., 2007; www.alelo.com
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5. First Person Cultural Trainer
Source: Zielke, 2011; Zielke et al. 2010
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6. Second Life: US Military islands
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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
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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)
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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
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10. Scenario development for military
simulations
Source: Hartog, 2009
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11. Learning goals
o 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
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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
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13. Example: Gender
o 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
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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!
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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)
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16. CAMO evaluation
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17. Mission Order
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18. Evaluation results: an overview
o 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
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19. Feedbacks from the participants
o 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
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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
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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/cases
o Possible usage areas
– Language training
– Training negotiation skills
– Reconvalescence (e.g. post-traumatic stress)
– Recruitment
– ‘Command and Control’ training
– Mission rehearsal exercise
– Civilian use
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22. Questions?
Feedbacks?
Ekaterina Prasolova-Førland
ekaterip@idi.ntnu.no
Mikhail Fominykh
mikhail.fominykh@svt.ntnu.no
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