This year I enjoyed attending my third I/ITSEC conference in Orlando. I was grateful both to attend this great conference and to be able to assist a client with a couple of projects and with their business development efforts.
As a relative newcomer to the conference, I have noticed some trends that I think are interesting over the past three years.
In 2016, the focus on the floor was on high-fidelity training equipment. It was a technology showplace of immersive first-person shooters and vehicle (wheels, wings, and rotors) on large screens, small screens, and VR goggles. The training back end of data, analytics, competency mapping, curriculum management, talent management, recommendation engines, were mostly seen in paper presentations and discussions on panels. It was the 2016 conference where CNO ADM Richardson challenged industry to build a multi-purpose, rapidly reconfigurable, software-based trainer that fits in a standard shipping container and can be deployed to the point of need.
In 2017, there was nearly as much attention to simulation technology, but the back-end technologies made a step forward to mock-ups and concept demonstrators. There was at least one demonstration of each of the LEGO blocks that are needed as a part of the "Total Learning Architecture" that OSD's ADL Initiative is leading. That year also saw much more mature discussion of the standards that are needed to bring the pieces together.
In 2018, I saw a noticeable decrease in focus on high-fidelity trainers and more maturity in the back-end technologies, with several appearing to be close to ready for deployment to end users. The discussion about standards, while still present, seemed to have quieted a bit. And this looks like good news; several experts I talked to believed that this was more because xAPI is being thought of as an accomplishment and not because support for standards is waning.
2019 looks like it will be focused on integrating the components of the TLA that have been developed over the last several years, and putting the high-fidelity, science-based learning systems in the hands of Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, and Marines at the time and place where the training is most needed. The next steps will be to measure and assess the returns on those investments, not just in terms of money, but in terms of operational excellence.
It is an exciting time to be part of the modeling, simulation, and training community.
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