Systematic unveils SitaWare Aspire eTraining solution
Systematic has launched SitaWare Aspire, a new eTraining tool that embeds the SitaWare application into the training environment to provide a realistic, hands-on training solution, enabling students to interact directly with SitaWare and train as they fight.
Image courtesy Systematic
SitaWare Aspire builds on the classic e-learning environment of textual and video resources but adds an extra training dimension to it. The new training platform has the SitaWare application integrated into the training environment, offering in-app exercises, with a digital instructor supporting students as they learn how to use the C4I software. Users develop their C4I skillset hands-on, navigating and operating the actual interface.
Gauri Varma Heise, Director of Service Product Management, Systematic Defence explained: “They have the application right in front of them – they don’t have to wait until they’ve conducted the training before they can use it.”
SitaWare Aspire features a range of courses, updated with each new release. A digital instructor delivers lessons through an ‘info box’, which explains what steps the user needs to take. An icon on the screen continuously directs the student through the training. Unlike many other training platforms, SitaWare Aspire also validates the student’s efforts, communicating whether they have performed the exercise correctly.
This ‘train as you fight’ concept ensures students receive the most realistic experience possible through learning by doing, accessible at any time and place. Other training systems add a layer on top of the application, but do not interact with it – SitaWare Aspire is different.
Varma Heise said: “You’ve learned, you’ve read the text, you’ve watched the instructional videos – and right away you enter a training environment where you practice using the system.”
SitaWare Aspire can teach students the basics of the software, though tailored courses could then be developed for individual military needs, Varma Heise adds. The courses are developed and validated by domain experts, ensuring the lessons reflect real workflows.
The training solution provides standardised, validated and certified training for military teams, offering a strong foundation for further development and learning. In a classic classroom training environment, “you’re highly dependent on your instructors’ qualifications, in a good and a bad way,” noted Varma. However, SitaWare Aspire’s digital instructor offers a consistent learning environment for each student, with no deviations from the curriculum.
Varma said: “Whether the student passes or not, the results are much easier to measure than classic classroom training.”
The new tool will allow military operators to cut down on the training burden, training multiple users efficiently and at their convenience. The system means that instructors can focus on more complex training, with SitaWare Aspire used for the more basic lessons. For example, in a standard-sized NATO brigade of 3,000-5,000 people, about 1,000 would need to be trained to use SitaWare, with up to 12 instructors conducting the training.
“If an instructor no longer has to conduct a two-day course for 1,000 students, you can quickly calculate how many hours he or she could save,” Varma explained. “That time saved is better spent on more complicated training, instead of simple application training.”