Axiom Wins Coveted SBIR Award for Advanced, Web-Based Instruction
December 2, 2002
Falls Church, Virginia - The Department of Defense (DoD) has awarded Axiom Resource Management, Inc. a coveted Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) contract to develop new computer-based training technologies. The award was based on a proposal prepared by Axiom's Didactics Division.
Technological advances typically require the DoD to retrain personnel with specialized skills in every field from hospital administration to loading military aircraft with new, laser guided "smart weapons." With its constant demand for more effective training, the department is leading a national effort to develop "object-oriented" training programs. These employ computer-based curricula developed by linking individual bits of instructional data-known as learning objects-into highly effective, interactive training courses. These have two distinct advantages over traditional classroom instruction. They accelerate training and can compress weeks of classroom instruction into days of computer based training. And with minimal modification, trainers can customize programs to meet the needs of separate but related jobs.
"When pilots need training on new aircraft, and mechanics need training on new jet engine maintenance, both will need to learn much of the same information," explained Pat Brown, president of Axiom's Didactics Division. "By building these training programs around computer-based learning objects, we don't have to build separate programs from scratch, but can share and reuse many of the learning objects."
The reusable learning object technology is based on the Sharable Content Object Reference Model, or SCORM for short, is still in its infancy but industry advocates report instances where a single learning object has been reused in as many as 1,000 distinct training programs.
"The SBIR award recognizes Axiom for our work in one of the most advanced, technically complex fields at the cutting edge of information technology" said Kevin Riley, Axiom executive vice president and chief financial officer, as he announced the contract. "Our Didactics Division is one of the few entities that have experience with this method of instructional design." SBIR contracts are awarded to companies that have demonstrated the ability to achieve extraordinary advances in emerging technologies.
According to Brown, the success of this technology depends on producing detailed descriptions of every learning object involved in each course of instruction. "To be fully effective," said Brown, "SCORM requires organizations to develop systems for classifying each learning object that makes up a particular training program. The more sophisticated the classificatory system, the more effectively these learning objects can be reused or shared." The SBIR award recognizes Didactics for designing the sophisticated taxonomies that are essential to improving the effectiveness of these training programs.
Axiom Resource Management, Inc. is headquartered in Falls Church, Virginia with branch offices in Alaska, California, Colorado, Georgia, New Jersey, New York, Maryland, and Washington, D.C.
For Further Information Contact Frank Cumberland, 703-998-0327.