Lynn Geiger
MVL Graduate Student (AeroAstro)
Investigation of Customized Refresher Training for Telerobotic Operations in Long-duration Spaceflight.
As humanity prepares to break the bounds of Earth’s orbit and send explorers deeper into the solar system, mission duration will drastically increase; forcing the crews to retain skills and knowledge from training for unprecedented lengths of time. Since performance diminishes when a skill is unused, the development of efficient and effective refresher training is essential. The effectiveness of teaching or training can be increased by taking into account the learning style of the student and customizing the training or retraining material. To understand the effect of customized retraining material on skill reacquisition, we compare telerobotics performance post training and six months later using two refresher training regiments; written refresher material and custom-made refresher videos. Videos were created by the subjects after training was completed. We use operating a simulator of the International Space Station Robotic Arm as a complex task, which requires intricate bi-manual control as well as following complex task procedures. We compared change in performance over the 6 month break between the two training styles using subjective evaluations as well as quantitative performance metrics. We also analyzed the subject made refresher videos for content and teaching style, and compare teaching style to the subject’s individual learning style, using the Felder-Silverman Index of Learning Style. Results of this study will be used to inform NASA on the appropriate refresher materials for long-duration spaceflight crews.