Feedback Fidelities in Three Different Types of Crisis Management Training Environments

Designing feedback that trainees receive in a training simulator while practicing non-technical skills in complex cognitive domains is demanding but, though potentially productive, has received inadequate attention. This paper describes research which aims to understand the impact of fidelity on feedback provided during training for crisis management. More specifically, the goal was to learn whether there were differences between learning feedback types in three different environments, a real-life training exercise, a table-top exercise and a design of an experiential training simulator. The basis for the comparison was a framework of essential feedback types that emerged from the literature and three types of fidelities, physical, functional and psychological. The study showed that there were few occurrences of psychological fidelities of feedback. It also showed that high fidelity can be achieved in the absence of feedback forms categorized as psychological, and that loose organization of an exercise may lead to significant variation in learning outcomes in different learning environments. In addition, the research demonstrated how the fidelity analysis of feedback types can be useful for designing feedback for learners in a training simulator.