{"id":17387,"date":"2018-08-10T21:08:19","date_gmt":"2018-08-10T21:08:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/armytimes\/uncategorized\/2018\/08\/10\/ditching-powerpoint-heres-how-these-experts-are-looking-to-transform-the-way-soldiers-learn\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T02:04:07","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T02:04:07","slug":"ditching-powerpoint-heres-how-these-experts-are-looking-to-transform-the-way-soldiers-learn","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/armytimes\/news\/your-army\/2018\/08\/10\/ditching-powerpoint-heres-how-these-experts-are-looking-to-transform-the-way-soldiers-learn\/","title":{"rendered":"Ditching PowerPoint: Here\u2019s how these experts are looking to transform the way soldiers learn"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A small group of focused experts is trying to find ways to tailor, accelerate and adapt soldier learning<\/a> for decades to come \u2014 and one slice of that work is an effort to end the dreaded DBPP syndrome, otherwise known as \u201cDeath By PowerPoint.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Army leaders, academic researchers and industry experts met this past week for Army Training and Doctrine Command<\/a>\u2019s annual \u201cMad Scientist<\/a> Initiative.\u201d The initiative has looked at disruptive technologies, fighting in megacities<\/a>, smart installations<\/a> and human-robot pairing<\/a>, with some of that work contributing to new approaches in how the Army prepares soldiers for future scenarios.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This most recent event focused on learning<\/a>. Though not the most lethal of topics, experts quickly demonstrated how the soldier of the future will have to learn a vast amount of information at the right point in time and in the correct way for it to be useful.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lee Grubbs, director of the initiative, told Army Times that key aspects of the future operating environment will likely see soldiers more connected in a faster threat environment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For that reason, information is going to be exponentially higher and flowing more quickly to soldiers and commanders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This drove participants to pose the question, \u201cwhat do we need to do to prepare that soldier for the battlefield of 2050?\u201d Grubbs said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Soldiers today are being educated in generally the same way officers and leaders have been educated for decades in the past. But the young person who is born in 2032 and becomes a soldier in 2050 is going to need to be educated differently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Software company Cerego<\/a>, which has partnered with the Army on different pilot programs, is already helping the service move in that direction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What the company does is take classroom content \u2014 think PowerPoint slides, text, video and other information \u2014 and put it in a mobile form for use on a smartphone. Then, their analysis uses algorithms and methods to first test the user\u2019s initial knowledge on the subject and then find their strengths and weaknesses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The program then acts like an individual tutor, tailoring the learning to the areas where the user needs to practice most, along with checking their retention of information in short, middle and long-range periods.<\/p>\n\n\n\t