EP 1169 Learning and communication in 3D ”CAMO – Cultural Awareness in Military Operations”

Final report

Version 1.0

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Table of contents

1. Summary, conclusions and recommendations ...... 3 1.1 Summary ...... 3 1.2 Conclusions and recommendations ...... 4 2. Background ...... 6 2.1 Learning in 3D worlds ...... 6 2.2 What are 3D virtual worlds? ...... 7 3. Project design and implementation ...... 8 3.1 Motives and goals ...... 8 3.2 Topics for the experiments ...... 8 3.3 Organization ...... 9 3.4 Practical implementation ...... 10 4. Experiment design and scenarios ...... 12 4.1 Introduction ...... 12 4.2 Methodology: overview ...... 12 4.3 Role play ...... 14 4.4 Learning goals with corresponding cues, reactions, typical mistakes and responses ...... 23 4.5 Future work ...... 27 4.6 References ...... 28 5. Evaluation of the experiment ...... 29 5.1 Introduction ...... 29 5.2 Method and data collection ...... 30 5.3 Qualitative and quantitative data ...... 31 5.4 Suggestions for technology improvements ...... 44 5.5 Conclusions ...... 45 Appendix 1: Observation of the experiment and reflections on the concept of "cultural awareness" ...... 47 Introduction ...... 47 About cultural awareness ...... 47 Operational culture and scenarios - Afghanistan ...... 48 Evaluation of the experiment November 25th ...... 48 General evaluations of the project ...... 49 Conclusions ...... 50 Appendix 2: Afghan Village Design and Implementation ...... 51

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1. Summary, conclusions and recommendations 1.1 Summary ADL-office at the Norwegian Defense University College received funds from the Norwegian Defense CD&E-council for 2011, to experiment on the use of 3D virtual worlds for learning. In terms of research, the major motivation behind the CAMO project has been the following:

• To obtain first-hand experiences with pedagogical use of the technology (possibilities, usage areas and limitations) within the context of the activities of the Norwegian Armed Forces.

• To develop necessary competencies internally in the Norwegian Armed Forces to facilitate further efforts in this direction in the future.

Nevertheless, the major research goal has been rather simplified and limited: To what extent do 3D virtual worlds create/facilitate learning for the users? The experiment did not aim at measuring relative effects, such as comparing with traditional classroom education or e-learning at the moment. Rather, the goal of the experiment has been to study whether 3D virtual worlds contribute to learning, based on the participants’ experiences during the experiments.

The major focus has been on cultural awareness, with language training and gender-perspective as sub-topics. To make the experiment as realistic and concrete as possible we chose Afghanistan as the setting.

ADL-office at the Norwegian Defense University College has been coordinating the project. Other participants include Norwegian Military Academy, Norwegian Defense Language and Intelligence School, Telemark Battalion and Norwegian Defense Media Center. In addition, researchers from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) and University of Oslo (UiO), as well as some other external resources, took part in the project.

The major experiment was carried out at the Norwegian Military Academy on November 25th 2011.

The evaluation shows that the cadets of the Norwegian Army War Academy participating in the experiment were positive to the use of 3D virtual worlds for training cultural awareness. It also provides indications that the cadets’ understanding of cross-cultural issues has improved.

Second Life platform has been used for the experiment, especially for economical and time- related/practical concerns. At the same time, the major focus has been on the general aspects of using 3D virtual worlds for learning and communication, so the conclusions in the report can be mostly considered as platform-independent.

The advantages of a platform such as Second Life appear to be numerous, including availability, the possibility for modeling of avatars and artifacts, low entry level, some degree of security (the possibility for restricted access to virtual spaces) and especially low development and usage costs. At the same time, it cannot fully replace ordinary cultural awareness training in a classroom and associated practical training sessions. Nevertheless, in comparison with traditional learning arenas, such platforms, especially when configured/modeled for the actual operational areas represent exciting solutions serving as a supplement to traditional learning and education modes.

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1.2 Conclusions and recommendations This section is written on the basis of the experimental findings and the follow-up discussions in a joint concluding project seminar on February 13th 2012. ADL-office is however responsible for the conclusions and recommendations.

Experiment design and didactics

• The experiment in this project showed clearly the necessity of throughout planning and design of the scenarios to be played. This is quite consuming but as a result the Norwegian Armed Forces has now a methodology that can be used as a basis for further simulations on such platforms. • Raising awareness of learning goals in advance is important for those who will participate in such experiments. Adequate education prior to practical cultural awareness simulations will contribute to enhanced learning. These simulations will then be a practical exercise in the topics the participants have already been introduced to. • There are a number of cases / scenarios in the different units in the Norwegian Armed Forces that can be transferred more or less directly to the scenarios in such platforms.

Usage and potential reuse: short term

As a part of the experiment, a virtual Afghan village has been created in Secod Life, including avatars representing Norwegian soldiers and Afghan civilians. These resources are still available and can be used freely for day-to-day educational purposes by different units within the Norwegian Armed Forces. For example, Norwegian Defense Language and Intelligence School has expressed the interest in using this virtual arena further for roleplay and language training involving their students. Similar usage is also relevant for the Norwegian Defense University College/Gender, Norwegian Army War Academy etc.

Generally about usage areas at the Norwegian Armed Forces

Virtual platforms/3D virtual worlds can be potentially used within a number of educational and training purposes within the Norwegian Armed Forces, for example:

o Training negotiation skills o Reconvalescence and post-traumatic stress prevention o Recruitment o All types of roleplay o Lectures and meetings o All types of collaboration, especially in an operational context o Dilemma training o ‘Command and Control’ training, tactical leadership

Usage and potential reuse: long- term

• The Norwegian Armed Forces already use various virtual training arenas, including VBS2 and SteelBeast. Because of the costs and complexity associated with ‘real’ training, there are reasons to believe that the use of such virtual arenas will increase. At the same time, these arenas will provide an overall framework for learning that it is difficult to create otherwise.

• It is important to coordinate the different efforts and initiatives within the Norwegian Armed Forces within the virtual training field, to minimize the costs and to develop a broad range of competencies related to the development and usage of the virtual training systems.

What platforms are most suitable?

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• In the experiment, we used the open Second Life platform, which is a relatively inexpensive and simple solution, allowing 24/7 access wherever internet connection is available. At the same time, there are a number of technical weaknesses and 100% security (preventing unauthorized access and observation) cannot be guaranteed. Also, Second Life provides limited possibilities for operational exercises, such as firing exercises. • There are platforms in the market hat are technically superior to Second Life such as Olive. Olive can be installed and used on an Intranet with restricted access, however it is rather expensive in terms of both acquisition and development of scenarios. Furthermore, it has limitations similar to those of Second Life in relation to tactical exercises.

Recommendations

Short-term

• Further usage of the methodology and the resources (such as the virtual Afghan village) developed during the experiment in the Norwegian Armed Forces. The relevant usage areas include cultural awareness, language and gender training. The primary intention is resource reuse as well as developing further experiences within virtual learning arenas. The associated costs are expected to be minimal.

• The resources already developed as a part of the experiment can be also applied in other usage areas, see the overview on previous page.

Long-term

• Experiences and findings in the experiment indicate the need for further experimentation and competence building in this field in the Norwegian Armed Forces. • It is recommended that the Norwegian Armed Forces continue experimenting with the use of 3D worlds in education and training, both within the Norwegian Defense education system and in the departments. New experiments should aim at broadening the experience base, both in terms of possible education forms and topics. • Several units within the Norwegian Armed Forces are already experimenting with or using such platforms permanently in different ways. These activities should be monitored and coordinated, to support a more long-term and systematic competence building. • The methodology developed in the experiment should be tried out on other platforms than Second Life. It would be especially interesting to explore how the Virtual Battle Space II platform that is already used by the Norwegian Armed Forces could have been used to combine operational and non-combat-related training, such as cultural awareness training.

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2. Background 2.1 Learning in 3D worlds 3D social worlds have been around for 12-15 years. The popularity curve has apparently reached its maximum around 2008-09, when for example Second Life platform had more than 6 million registered users. After that, the use of virtual worlds went down to a considerable degree, and other social media such as Facebook, Twitter, etc. have taken over much of the attention.

At the same time, Second Life (and similar) is currently widely used for professional purposes, where working arenas and concepts are developed for specific goals. From the very beginning there have been attempts to use such worlds for training and skills development, both in the school, higher education and workplace. This is actually one the major ‘serious’ usage areas of Second Life, although it has not yet reached the broad user masses, most probably due to the rather high user threshold. Yet there have been many exciting and educating experiments - in everything from ADL to simulations and management development - and there exists a substantial research literature in the field. Many of those involved in this area are adopting a "learning while waiting" perspective: waiting for the technology to be easier to use but at the same time more advanced, with the visual expression means being more like the ones in the real world. In the meantime, the ‘waiting’ time is spent on building pedagogical expertise on learning, communication and interaction in 3D.

From both a research and practice perspective, the interest in the use of 3D worlds in learning have been motivated by the fact that the traditional form of e-learning in the workplace - so-called "concept-based e-learning" - has evolved relatively little over the last few years and is not able to meet the major educational challenges: lack of learning-related social interaction and opportunities for knowledge-based hands-on exercises. Online 3D worlds provide alternative possibilities for simulation and interaction. Therefore, it has been claimed that 3D worlds are the next generation e- learning platform. However, the development is still in its early stages and there is a need for experimentation and knowledge development in order to exploit the existing and future opportunities.

There has been a growing interest within NATO and among other allies (PfP, NORDEFCO) for using 3D virtual worlds for education and simulation-based training of personnel. A dedicated conference – ”Exploiting Commercial Games and Technology for use in NATO” – has been arranged at the NATO Modelling and Simulation Centre of Excellence in Rome in 2010. Many of the member countries are involved in the field, with the US as the primary driving force. They have developed a special platform for this, US Nexus, but also use the Olive and Second Life platforms. In addition, significant resources are invested into the military-operative simulation platform VBS2 – Virtual Battlefield Space 2.

Norwegian Army Weapon School and Norwegian Military Academy have earlier experimented with VBS2 and Steelbeasts and will most probably use this and similar platforms to a significant extent for operational training. However, for other educational purposes, other platforms might be more suitable and less expensive. In 2007 the Norwegian Defense Research Institute issued a report “Real interaction in a 3D virtual world”, on the usage in a military collaborative context. The main conclusion was that this is a technology that the Norwegian Armed Forces “would and should benefit from (…) in the future” (FFI-rapport 2007/02588, p. 31).

Norwegian Defense University College with the ADL-office has been one of the initiators for the ”L3D-project” – Learning, communication and interaction in a 3D world – that started in 2010 and was completed in May 2011. The partners including InterMedia at the University of Oslo (scientific leader), Swedish Armed Forces, Norwegian Court Administration, DIFI and Northern Norway

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University Hospital performed a set of initial experiments using Second Life for learning, i.e. different modes of education, guidance and roleplay. The experiences have been very positive, inspiring further investigation on the topic.

2.2 What are 3D virtual worlds?

3D virtual worlds are web societies, available from standard PCs, allowing people in different geographical locations to meet with others in a (perceived) shared environment. 3D virtual worlds may simulate different contexts, phenomena and scenarios, and in this way differ from traditional e- learning and face-to-face settings. 3D virtual worlds have four characteristics:

• Joint audio-visual environment. Both sound and image is spatial. Visual artifacts like houses, trees, interior and landscape create a sense of place in the virtual world. Users can also add, manipulate and interact with the content. • Avatar-based communication. Avatar - a human or fairy-like figure - visualizes the user, making him/her visible to other users. With the help of the avatar, the user can move around, interact with the environment and communicate with other users. • Multiple communication channels. In addition to voice, different text-based collaboration tools can be integrated into the virtual world, enabling users to share documents, view videos and presentations. It is possible to communicate one-to-one, in large and small groups, in public areas and private zones. • Social presence. Avatar impersonates the user in the virtual environment and is therefore one of the elements that supports the user’s sense of presence in the virtual environment.

There are over 200 3D virtual worlds on the Internet, including the most common platforms such as Second Life, Olive, Active Worlds, Open Simulator and Wonderland. Because of the technology's anticipated educational potential, 3D virtual worlds are used for many different purposes. In particular, three broad application areas stand out:

• An arena for communication, social interaction and collaboration. For example, education, seminars, meetings, conference activities, guidance and cooperation projects. • A forum for role-playing, simulations, and skills training. Training of practical skills in an authentic realistic environment, such as conflict management, intercultural communication, interaction within a surgical team and problem solving. • A venue for collaborative design, construction and visualization. For example, visualization of various phenomena and collaborative construction of models, structures and other artifacts.

Internationally, there have been a number of research-based experiments on the use of 3D in these areas, with many positive experiences. We will only highlight a few:

• Users express themselves more freely with comments and questions (especially in the case of dissension) in virtual environments than what is common in a classroom. • Role play and simulations in 3D are perceived as more realistic compared to using a regular classroom as an arena. • In most cases, participating in virtual reality environments that recreate reality affects user motivation in a positive direction. • The possibility of many parallel communication channels (voice and different types of text and visualizations) are perceived as important, enhancing interaction between participants. • Distributed language training is more efficient in 3D virtual worlds than via video conferencing because the former provides a context for communication.

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There are also many barriers to the use of 3D virtual worlds in learning. The technology is for example rather weak on non-verbal communication. Furthermore, constructing scenarios to be used for example in simulations is normally rather time-consuming. Finally, the technology in itself is often perceived as a barrier in terms of both benefits for learning and more extensive usage. At the same time, once users reach an advanced level, they usually discover many exciting opportunities in the 3D technology.

3. Project design and implementation 3.1 Motives and goals Several units within the Norwegian Armed Forces have been interested in exploring the use of 3D virtual worlds for learning. The Armed Forces could have chosen to import the concepts developed among our allies, with a consequent adjustment for Norwegian purposes. It was instead decided to create experiences through own project.

In terms of research, the major motivation behind the CAMO project has been the following:

• To obtain first-hand experiences with the pedagogical use of the technology (possibilities, usage areas and limitations) within the context of the activities of the Norwegian Armed Forces.

• To develop necessary competencies internally in the Norwegian Armed Forces to facilitate further efforts in this direction in the future.

Nevertheless, the major research goal has been rather simplified and limited: To what extent do 3D virtual worlds create/facilitate learning for the users? At the moment, the experiment did not aim at measuring relative effects, such as comparing with traditional classroom education or e-learning. Rather, the goal of the experiment has been to study whether 3D virtual worlds contribute to learning, based on the participants’ experiences during the experiments.

Figure 1: Scene from the experiment in Second Life

3.2 Topics for the experiments

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Several topics have been evaluated as relevant for the experiment in this project:

• Cross-cultural communication • Language training • Mission planning and execution – ‘Command and Control’ • ‘Reach Back’ • Reconvalescence (e.g. post-traumatic stress) • Gender perspective

Due to the time, budget and personnel considerations, the scope of the experiments had to be significantly limited. Therefore we chose to link together the three topics that were possible to cover within the scope of the project, in the following way:

• Cultural awareness: Preparing personnel for specific international operations • Gender perspective: The role of gender in international operations and armed conflicts • Language training: Oral and practical training for different personnel groups

The major focus has been on cultural awareness, with language training and gender-perspective as sub-topics.

To make the experiment as realistic and concrete as possible we chose Afghanistan as the setting.

3.3 Organization ADL-office at the Norwegian Defense University College has been coordinating the project (with Ramin Darisiro as the project leader).

The following units within the Norwegian Armed Forces have been involved in the project:

• ADL-office, Norwegian Defense University College • Norwegian Defense Language and Intelligence School (FSES) • Norwegian Military Academy (KS) • Telemark Battalion (TmBn) • Norwegian Defense Media Center

NTNU has been engaged in the project in two ways:

• The construction of the experimental arena in Second Life: en Afghan village. This was done by PhD student Mikhail Fominykh

• Detailed experiment design and scenarios for the roleplays. This was done by associate professor Ekaterina Prasolova-Førland and PhD student Mikhail Fominykh. Ekaterina Prasolova-Førland has also prepared an English version of this report.

InterMedia at the University of Oslo has been engaged in the project in two ways:

• Assistance in the design of the project. This was done by professor Anders Mørch og Master- student Ingvill Thomassen.

• Evaluation of the experiment, based on the interviews with the participants and questionnaires. This was done by professor Anders Mørch og Master-student Ingvill Thomassen.

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Associate professor David Hansen form Bjørknes University College has been involved in the project as a consultant and contributor to the experimental design, the implementation of debriefing sessions with the participants during the experiment, and evaluation of the experiment from a professional perspective (cultural awareness).

In addition, Øystein Ramseng has been engaged externally to provide assistance in the development of experimental methodology and design. Ramseng was one of the initiators to the L3D project we have worked with (see last paragraph of section 1) and is a specialist in learning design and methodology.

Figure 2: From the video containing mission order for the experiment, produced by the Norwegian Defense Media Center.

3.4 Practical implementation The project started in April 2011. The period until 01.11.2012 had been used for:

• Overall organization of the project: defining goals and target groups, development of hovedcase • Engaging internal and external personnel • Evaluation design • Practical planning

A trial run involving all the participants was carried out at the Norwegian Military Academy on November 18th 2011.

The major experiment was carried out at the Norwegian Military Academy on November 25th 2011.

Totally 14 cadets of the Norwegian Army War Academy participated in the experiment, playing roles of the Norwegian soldiers in the simulation. In addition, several employees from the Academy assisted with practical organization and observation.

6 students and 2 teachers from the Norwegian Defense Language and Intelligence School participated in the experiment. The former played the roles of the afghan civilians and interpreters for the Norwegian squad while the latter played the role of the Afghan civilians and provided input to the scenario development during the roleplay.

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In addition to the War Academy and the Language and Intelligence School, the experiment and the trial run was attended by several employees from the ADL-office and the Norwegian Defense University College. The project participants from NTNU, the University of Oslo, and other members of the project group attended as well. A dedicated backdrop was built in Second Life for the experiment: an Afghan village, with houses, school, the mosque, etc. This village is still available and can be used for new simulations in the Norwegian Armed Forces. In addition, special avatars have been prepared for all the Norwegian soldiers and Afghan civilians.

Norwegian Defense Media Center produced video serving as an introduction to the experiment. The video contains a mission order for the Norwegian squad.

A concluding seminar, involving personnel from the ADL-office, other units at the Norwegian Defense University College, Norwegian War Academy, Language and Intelligence School, NTNU, University of Oslo and other project members took place on 13.02.2012.

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4. Experiment design and scenarios 4.1 Introduction There is a lack of systematic, research-based methods for scenario development in game-based simulations for military training, especially in the area of cultural awareness. For example, according to (Singer et al., 2010), “…the (US) Army lacks both experience in using GBS (Game-Based Simulations) within a training program as well as research-based training methods for using GBS in training. In addition, the use of GBS systems requires aids for scenario development, training practices, and performance measurement tools that do not exist”. Few of the existing methods are published and systematized due to security concerns or/and commercial interests.

The methodology aiding scenario development for the CAMO project is based on the Naturalistic Decision Making approach (Klein, 1998; Hartog, 2009; Caird-Daley et al., 2009; Zsambok, 1997) and Situation Awareness theory (Endsley, 1995; Hartog, 2009). This theoretical background is broadly used for training in a military context (see e.g. Caird-Daley et al., 2009) since it provides the best description for decision making by military commanders in an unstable, dynamic environment. In a nutshell, this approach focuses on making rapid decisions under critical conditions based on previous experience as a repertoire of patterns. When diagnosing the situation, the decision-maker needs to recognize the pattern and then choose the appropriate ‘typical’ course of action (Hartog, 2009; Klein, 1998).

As a starting point for developing scenarios for the CAMO project, we studied a number of publicly available methodologies from a number of serious games developers in the US (see for e.g. Zielke, 2011; Johnson, 2009; Surface et al., 2007), as well as methodologies developed at the UK Human Factors Integration Defence Technology Centre (Caird-Daley et al., 2009) and the Royal Netherlands Army/TNO Defense, Security & Safety/Delft University of Technology (Hartog, 2009). These methodologies are often focused on tactical/operational tasks and not primarily on operational culture. Therefore, these methodologies have been developed further to be adjusted to the goals of the CAMO project. The resulting methodology is an important result of the project and could be used further in connection with similar projects at the Norwegian Armed Forces.

4.2 Methodology: overview The methodology for scenario development used for the CAMO project is based on a systematized set of learning goals and associated ‘mini-scenarios’. Each ‘mini-scenario’ comes with a set of cues, appropriate responses, typical mistakes and associated responses from the gaming environment. Cues can be defined as “the perceptual elements of the environment that influence the challenging decisions” and their correct extraction and interpretation is very central in existing literature on gaming for military purposes (Hartog, 2009; Phillips, 2001). Following consultations with the subject experts in the Norwegian Armed Forces, the following major learning goals categories could be identified:

• T. Tactics: general tactics (in a concrete cultural context), e.g. identifying threats based on the relevant cues from the environment • G. Gender: interacting with women in tribal/clan communities, e.g. how to act towards Afghan women • R. Religion: dealing with religious customs and practices • S. Socializing: observing local customs, e.g. when dealing with children, visiting a house • L. Language: basic language skills for simple tasks like polite greeting, asking for directions, identifying security threats; interactions between the interpreter, the locals and the squad

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Though being initially identified for the concrete project setting (focusing on international operations in Afghanistan), these categories are generally applicable (possibly with minor modifications) for operational culture training in general. Each of these learning goals categories are split into sub- categories, providing a basis for the corresponding ‘mini-scenarios’/’mini-modules’, for example:

• Tactics sub-goal T1. Identifying possible threats • Tactics sub-goal T3. Securing an area (village/house) • Religion sub-goal R1. Correct behavior during a prayer • Religion sub-goal R2. Food during Ramadan • Gender sub-goal G1. Close contact with local women • Socializing sub-goal S3. Dealing with children • Language sub-goal L1. Basic polite phrases in local language • Etc. (see Tables 1-5)

Each of the learning sub-goals is further detailed with corresponding cues, appropriate reactions, typical mistakes and typical responses in case of mistake (see Tables 1-5). Below is an example of such a detailing for a gender-related learning sub-goal (and associated mini-scenario):

• Learning goal G1: Close contact with local women • Cues: a local woman asks for/needs (medical) assistance • Appropriate reaction: a female soldier approaches the woman, talks to her and provides necessary assistance • Typical/possible mistake: a male soldier approaches the woman, talks to her and in the worst case touches her while attempting to provide assistance • Typical response in case of mistake: the woman (other locals) gets upset/hostile, further efforts are needed to resolve the situation

The responses in case of mistake are provided both from the virtual environment, e.g. from avatars playing the roles of the ‘Afghans’, and from the ‘game master’ (a person serving as an organizer, moderator and facilitator during the role play). The mini-scenarios are combined in a logical and coherent manner to provide an outline/’skeleton’ for each scene/module that are later combined into complete scenarios. This provides a basis for requirements for the virtual environment for every scene/gaming sequence and associated scripts for the role-players, especially the ‘Afghans’, constituting a ‘skeleton’ for improvisation. These scripts also provide an aid for the game master, supporting further development of the role play. This is an iterative process where testing and evaluation of scenarios, with subsequent revision of the main scenarios, mini-scenarios, requirements and redesign of the virtual environment, is a very important part of the game development.

This modular approach will make it possible to develop scenarios in a flexible and efficient way and reuse the mini-scenarios on a later occasion. Tables 1-5 contain an overview of mini- scenarios/modules, with corresponding sets of cues, responses, appropriate reactions and typical mistakes. This ‘database’ can provide a basis for further scenario development in connection with game-based learning at the Norwegian Armed Forces.

Apart from the scenarios and cues from the virtual environment and the game master, ‘mission order’ is an important part of the game. It contains a description of the situation making it possible for the players to contextualize their choices during the simulation. For example, when being informed that it is Ramadan at the moment, the players need to decide whether or not to accept food. When informed that Taliban are active in the area, the players would need to evaluate the security situation differently when encountering a man with a gun etc.

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Mission order typically contains the following components (Hartog, 2009):

• Description of the current situation (e.g. the village, its position, the local clan structure, recent activities, conflicts, whether it is Ramadan or other religious/local celebrations at the time • ‘Rules of Engagement’, i.e. the rules for the application and use of military force • Mission objectives: description of the tasks/mission for the squad/unit in question • ‘Intel’: e.g. whether Taliban are active in the area, possible security threats

Figure 3: Afghan village in Second Life

4.3 Role play The role play used during the CAMO experiment is an example of practical realization of the methodology. The mission order for this role play is defined as follows (Fig. 2):

Mission order o Threat level: medium o It is Ramadan o It is Friday o It is ca. 12.45 pm when the squad enters the village o The squad does not know where the village chief/’malik’ and his house is but they have an appointment to meet him in the village. The purpose of the meeting is to obtain information about possible Taliban activities in the area

The final scenario consists of eight scenes/zones, each of them composed of corresponding mini- scenarios, with several possible paths through them depending on the players’ preferences but also their performance and the ability to choose an optimal course of action for each situation. For example, if the soldiers give chewing gum to the children in Zone 1, it might upset the local woman. Furthermore, if they talk to the local woman in Zone 2 in a way she perceives as disrespectful, she would be less inclined to share information about the whereabouts of the village chief/malik and the position of the mosque where he is most likely to be since it is Friday prayer time. As a consequence, the squad must spend more time locating the mosque, probably contacting the ‘home base’/game

14 UNCLASSIFIED master for assistance. If the soldiers fail to observe the cultural codes and treat the locals in a polite and appropriate manner, the village chief/malik might get upset and unwilling to provide the necessary information about Taliban activities. In our case, two possible paths are used (Fig. 4), Plan A (blue, the ideal course) and Plan B (red, where due to various problems the game master needs to interfere with adjustments).

The description of each scene/zone has the following structure:

• Short description of the zone • A set of learning goals that are the focus of this zone (see Tables 1-5) • Cues to react to and reflect on • A detailed description of possible outcomes (including worst case(s) in red, neutral and best case(s) in blue) depending on the soldiers’ reactions, with corresponding responses from the environment and game master/’home base’ as described in Tables 1-5 • Game master’s instructions, coordinating the players’ activities, especially the ‘Afghans’. To coordinate the activities of the Norwegian players, the game master may act as the ‘home base’

This role play scenario, with the exception of some comments and clarifications, represents the original iteration completed before the final implementation of the experiment. For further use, the mini-scenarios and Tables 1-5 should be reiterated, expanded and revised based on the results of the experiment and as described in Section 4.5 at the end of this chapter.

ZONE 1 3 children play along the road. While the squad passes by, the children come closer, attempt to touch the weapons, beg for chewing gum and candy. A woman appears from a house on the other side, shouts angrily at the children and waves them away.

Learning goals T1. Identifying possible threats+ T3. Securing an area + T4. Keeping the civilians outside danger + S3. Dealing with children + L1. Basic polite phrases in local language (see tables 1-5)

Cues to react to and reflect on 1. Children touching weapons, are in the way => potentially dangerous situation for the civilians? 2. Woman shouts angrily => locals dislike the contact between the soldiers and the children 3. Children play freely = > says something about the security situation?

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Figure 4. Two possible role play developments, plan A (blue, the ideal course) and Plan B (red, due to technical or other problems the game master interferes for adjustments)

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Responses and possible outcomes 1. The soldiers give candy and chewing gum to the children (dropping a ‘candy’ object from SL inventory) => the children keep nagging, the woman might get more angry (shouting more, gesticulating) => another round attempting to resolve the situation (‘worst case’) 2. The soldiers give nothing to the children, yell at them => the children get disappointed, are no longer in the way, but the woman might get offended, the relations to the locals might worsen => to the next zone, where the woman will be less inclined to answer any questions 3. The soldiers give nothing to the children, try to avoid direct contact, waving friendly to them, stay calm, say some general phrases /ask them to step aside => the children stop nagging, nobody gets offended => to the next zone (Zone 2) (‘best case’)

Game master instructions o Instructing the children whether they keep nagging or withdraw o Instructing the woman to come closer and chase the children away

ZONE 2 The squad approaches the local woman to inquire about the whereabouts of the village chief/’malik’.

Learning goals G3. Verbal contact with local women + S1. Polite greeting + L1. Basic polite phrases in local language + L2. Interaction between the interpreter, the locals and the squad (see Tables 1-5)

Cues to react to and reflect on 1. A local woman who has potentially useful information, her age and social status 2. Whether the woman is alone in the house 3. Whether the woman is neural or unfriendly minded towards the Norwegians (after activities in Zone 1)

Responses and possible outcomes 1. One of the male soldiers approaches the woman (in the worst case, with a direct contact between the avatars) and greets her => the woman, especially if she is young, hides in the house, expresses fear, provides no information => another round with a female soldier attempting to resolve the situation/contacting the game master/’home base’ for help (‘worst case’) 2. Male soldiers follow the woman into the house to talk with her without any of her family present => the woman might be ‘dishonored’, protests => another round with a female soldier attempting to resolve the situation/contacting the game master/’home base’ for help (‘worst case’) 3. One of the male soldiers greets the woman without approaching => the woman (especially if she is older) answers that the village chief is in the mosque but does not show where the mosque is, goes back to the house => proceed to Zone 3. 4. A female soldier/interpreter approaches the woman, possibly enters the house, starts asking questions => the woman perceives the greeting as not polite enough/is angry after what happened in Zone 1/misunderstands what is said by the interpreter, answers that the village chief is in the mosque but does not show where the mosque is, goes back to the house => proceed to Zone 3. 5. A female soldier/interpreter approaches the woman, possibly enters the house, greets her politely, starts asking questions =>the woman answers that the village chief is in the mosque and shows the way there => proceed to Zones 3-4 (‘best case’)

Game master instructions • Instructing the woman about her positioning, for example outside the house at first and going into the house if the cadets make major mistakes

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• Instructing the woman whether she should speak freely or appear reserved/retire to the house depending on development of the situation

ZONE 3 The soldiers follow the way, looking for the village mosque. There are some characteristic features that distinguish the mosque from ordinary houses.

Learning goals T1. Identifying possible threats + T2. Interaction within the squad/home base + R3. Recognizing a mosque, correct behavior in/outside the mosque (see Tables 1-5)

Cues to react to and reflect on 1. A prominent building with a minbar, dome and possibly minarets => a mosque 2. Hearing a prayer call from a building => most probably a mosque 3. Cues/’intel’ from the ‘home base’ about the location of the mosque => combining with the external characteristics/cues from the environment => identifying the mosque 4. Cues for continuous evaluation of possible security threats (e.g. presence of women and children in the village, their behavior) = > renewed evaluation

Responses and possible outcomes 1. The soldiers do not manage to find the mosque based on the external characteristics (and possibly because of the missing info from the woman in Zone 2) => ask the game master/’home base’ for assistance and get either concrete directions based on ‘intel’/previous reconnoitering of the village or hints about typical characteristics of the mosque => find the mosque from the combination of cues and proceed to Zone 4/debrief 1 (‘worst case’) 2. The soldiers do not manage to find the mosque based on the external characteristics (and possibly because of the missing info from the woman in Zone 2) => back to Zone 2 for further questioning of the woman 3. The soldiers identify the mosque correctly from the external characteristics and/or information from the woman in Zone 2 => to Zone 4/debrief 1 (‘best case’)

Game master instructions • Assisting and directing the soldiers if needed

Debrief 1.

ZONE 4 Outside the mosque. The squad is to wait outside the mosque and greet the village chief/malik and his 2 men appearing from the mosque.

Learning goals S1. Polite greeting + T2. Interaction within the squad/home base + R1. Correct behavior during a prayer + R3. Recognizing a mosque, correct behavior in/outside the mosque + L1. Basic polite phrases in local language + L2. Interaction between the interpreter, the locals and the squad (see Tables 1-5)

Cues to react to and reflect on 1. Outside the mosque + it is Friday, Ramadan and prayer time (cues from the mission order) => is basically a normal situation, respectful behavior is required 2. Identifying the status (and age) of those exiting the mosque based on external characteristics (a large turban worn by the village chief) and mutual avatar position => distinguishing between the village chief and his entourage.

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Responses and possible outcomes 1. The soldiers enter the mosque during the prayer looking for the village chief, interrupt the prayer, do not take off their shoes => the village chief and other villagers get offended/irritated => another round, the game master will possibly need to interfere with hints and help (‘worst case’) 2. The soldiers recognize the status of the chief incorrectly and make some serious mistakes in the beginning => e.g. greeting the chief’s men first and him afterwards, the chief is greeted by a female soldier => the chief is less accommodating => another round, the game master will possibly need to interfere with hints and help 3. The soldiers are waiting outside the mosque until the prayer is finished, recognize the status of the chief and his companions correctly when they come out and make the appropriate greetings in the correct order => the village chief is pleased and attentive, and invites them quickly to his compound => to Zone 5 (possibly Zone 6 if the game master decides to skip a zone), possibly following the village chief directly (‘best case’)

Game master instructions • Instructing the village chief and other ‘Afghans’ when they are to exit the mosque • Instructing the village chief whether the conversation should continue or end with an invitation to his compound • Instructing the village chief to lead the soldiers along the path to Zone 5 and / or 6 or directly to his compound

ZONE 5 If the squad continues walking along the road they will pass by a house with an open door. Through the door they can see a praying man with a gun (AK47) on the floor beside him (this zone was omitted from the actual role play).

Learning goals T2. Interaction within the squad/home base + T3. Securing an area + R1. Correct behavior during a prayer + L2. Interaction between the interpreter, the local and the squad (see Tables 1-5)

Cues to react to and reflect on 1. A praying man + Ramadan/Friday (cues from the mission order) => basically a normal situation 2. One or more weapons, the amount, type, position in the house => a normal situation or a threat? 3. Combining the cues from the environment with the cues from ‘intel’/mission order in order to understand whether the security situation in the area presupposes threat or not

Responses and possible outcomes 1. The soldiers interpret the situation as unambiguously dangerous disregarding cues from the mission order, fail to discuss the situation with the leader/’home base’ => storming the house with raised weapons, the man is offended and yells at them, the village chief interferes => staying in Zone 5, discussions within the squad and with the man /village chief until the situation is resolved, with possible interference from the game master (‘worst case’) 2. The soldiers are uncertain about the situation, unable to interpret the complex cues they have received, refrain from asking for external help, prefer gathering more info on their own => enter the house with lowered weapons to question the man => the man is slightly irritated at being disturbed in his prayer, the village chief may interfere => staying in Zone 5, discussions within the squad and with the man /village chief until the situation is resolved 3. The soldiers discuss the situation within the squad and possibly other units/’home base’, concluding that the overall picture indicates "no security threat" => just observing, doing nothing

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=> advancing to Zone 6 (or skipping and proceeding directly to debrief 2/Zone 7 if decided by the game master) (‘best case’)

Game master instructions • Instructing the ‘man with the gun’ to take prayer position • Instructing the ‘man with the gun’ of possible reactions if the soldiers storm the house • Instructing the village chief whether he should interfere in the conflict and for how long potential negotiations should last • Instructing the village chief about where he should lead the squad to, i.e. to Zone 6, or directly to his compound

ZONE 6 If the squad continues moving along the road, they will pass by a house, observing a crying local woman outside, who is visibly damaged. She is crying and displaying visible signs of damage (bloody clothes). During the actual role play, it was demonstrated that the woman fell from the house roof and was damaged. Her husband was standing by her side, asking for help, too. The scene is completed inside the woman’s house.

Learning goals G1. Close contact with local women + S5. Providing medical assistance to local population + T1. Identifying possible threats + T2. Interaction within the squad/home base + L1. Basic polite phrases in local language + L2. Interaction between the interpreter, the locals and the squad (see Tables 1-5)

Cues to react to and reflect on 1. A local woman is visibly damaged (bloody clothes/is crying/in need for help, her age and the social status) 2. General security situation (needs to be evaluated anew), why is the woman damaged? Is it domestic violence? Presence of other family members, such as the woman’s husband.

Responses and possible outcomes 1. One of the male soldiers approaches the woman (in the worst case involving a direct contact) with the intention to help => the woman, especially if young, protests, the village chief/husband gets involved, expressing displeasure with the situation => another round in Zone 6 involving a female soldier/interpreter to resolve the situation/contacting the game master/'home base' for assistance (‘worst case’) 2. One of the male soldiers starts talking to the woman without approaching her, probably asking for permission to come closer => the woman (especially if young) denies and protests, the village chief/husband is dissatisfied that the woman does not receive any help => another round in Zone 6 involving a female soldier/interpreter to resolve the situation/summoning a 'medic'/ contacting the game master/'home base' for assistance 3. The female soldier/interpreter (either from the squad or summoned from elsewhere) approaches the woman, greets her, talks to her and offers basic medical assistance (in Second Life, e.g. dropping a ‘medical kit’ from the inventory close to the woman). The woman appears calmed down, the village chief is neutral => proceeding to debrief 2/zone 7 4. The female soldier/interpreter (either from the group or summoned from elsewhere) approaches the woman, greets her, talks to her and offers basic medical assistance (in Second Life, e.g. dropping a ‘medical kit’ from the inventory close to the woman), gets assistance from a summoned ‘medic’ who brings medications and bandages => the woman calms down, thanks, the village chief/husband appears satisfied => to debrief 2/Zone 7 (‘best case’)

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Game master instructions • Instructing the ‘wounded woman’ to take her position, starting to cry • Instructing the ‘wounded woman’ of possible reactions if she is approached by male soldiers • Instructing the village chief or husband whether he should interfere in the conflict and how long negotiations should last (in case of a conflict) • Instructing the village chief when to proceed with the squad to his compound

Debrief 2.

ZONE 7 The squad has arrived at the village chief/malik’s compound and is standing outside the door to the reception room.

Learning goals S1. Polite greeting + T2. Interaction within the squad/home base + S4. House visit + L1. Basic polite phrases in local language (see Tables 1-5)

Cues to react to and reflect on 1. ‘Hierarchy’ of both the Afghans and Norwegians present, in terms of external characteristics (large turban worn by the village chief), uniform worn by the Norwegian soldiers, gender and mutual position of avatars => determining the order in which to enter the reception room.

Responses and possible outcomes 1. The soldiers go straight into the reception room, with no particular order, without inviting the village chief to go first => may create confusion / dissatisfaction among the Afghans that is not expressed directly => to Zone 8, possibly with critical comments from the game master (‘worst case’) 2. The soldiers show respect by gesticulating to the village chief that he should go first, but when he insists that they should go first, they go in the wrong order, e.g. the female soldier or privates first => may create confusion / dissatisfaction among the Afghans that is not expressed directly => to Zone 8, possibly with critical comments from the game master 3. The soldiers show respect by gesticulating to the village chief that he should go first, when he insists that they should go first, they go in the right order (the squad leader, village chief, then the rest) => the village chief and his people are satisfied => to Zone 8 (‘best case’)

Game master instructions • Instructing the village chief whether he should start the ‘courtesy round’ and when it's time to go inside.

ZONE 8 In the village chief/malik’s reception room.

Learning goals S1. Polite greeting + S4. House visit + T2. Interaction within the squad/home base + T3. Securing an area + G2. Female soldiers on a house visit + R2. Food during Ramadan + L1. Basic polite phrases in local language+ L2. Interaction between the interpreter, the locals and the squad (see Tables 1-5)

Cues to react to and reflect on 1. Being served tea and cookies during Ramadan and in the middle of the day (mission order) => the locals do not eat or drink, eating is rude unless the host repeatedly insists

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2. ‘Hierarchy’ of both the Afghans and Norwegians present, in terms of external features (large turban worn by the village chief), the Norwegian soldiers’ uniform, gender and mutual position of avatars => determining who sits where in the room. 3. Shoes / helmet / sunglasses are not suitable inside the house => should be removed when entering

Responses and possible outcomes 1. The soldiers do not take off shoes / helmet /possibly weapons => perceived as rude by the Afghans, the conversation is slow, the squad does not get the necessary information => another round trying to improve the situation (‘worst case’/mistake) 2. The female soldier / interpreter sits too close to the village chief's place, the Norwegian squad leader occupies the chief’s place in the room => perceived as rude by the Afghans, the conversation is slow, the squad does not get the necessary information => another round trying to improve the situation (‘worst case’/mistake) 3. The soldiers accept the refreshments they are offered right away even though it's Ramadan => perceived as rude by the Afghans, the conversation is slow, the squad does not get the necessary information => another round trying to improve the situation (‘worst case’/mistake) 4. The interpreter fails to make the soldiers aware of their mistakes, does nothing actively to rectify the situation => , there are misunderstandings and confusions, the conversation is slow, the squad does not get the necessary information => another round trying to improve the situation 5. The squad leader goes straight to the point and starts asking questions about security situation in the village => the atmosphere might be tense, the conversation is slow, there is a need for more specific clarifying questions, it takes time to get the necessary information => another round to get necessary information 6. The interpreter speaks too little/unbalanced with one of the parts, does not convey nuances correctly => there are misunderstandings and confusions between the parts, in the worst case somebody gets insulted, the conversation is slow, there is a need for additional clarifying questions, it takes time to get the necessary information => a round to get the necessary information 7. The squad/squad leader makes no serious mistakes, beginning with some polite ‘small talk’ and moving on to specific questions about the security situation, when offered refreshments first politely declines but finally takes some tea after the host repeatedly insists => the conversation goes as expected, the squad gets important information => the game master ends the game => to Debrief 3 (‘best case’)

Game master instructions o Instructing the village chief and his people on where to sit o Instructing the village chief and his people of several possible actions: offering refreshments, getting up and approaching the soldiers, expressing skepticism / dissatisfaction etc. o Instructing the village chief about the direction the conversation should take, e.g. whether he should act evasive, pretending that he does not understand, changing the subject etc

Debrief 3.

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4.4 Learning goals with corresponding cues, reactions, typical mistakes and responses

Learning goals Cues from the Appropriate Typical/possible Typical responses in environment reactions mistakes case of mistake T1. Identifying • Empty village • Evaluating • With threat level • Ambush/exchange possible threats • Village without security set to high, of fire men, situation and entering without • Angry/aggressive women/elders acting reconnoitering inhabitants are present accordingly • With threat level • Children play set to low, entering freely with raised weapons T2. Interaction • Encountering a • Contacting • Acting impulsively, • Security breach within the (culturally) squad on own initiative • Offended locals squad/home ambiguous leader/home base situation base, awaiting orders T3. Securing an • Terrain in the • Evaluating the • Refraining from • Security breach area area to be overall security securing an area • Offended locals (village/house) secured, position situation based • Securing without of elements on a taking all the cues • Presence of combination of into account people, their cues, both • Securing too behavior from the aggressively • Visible environment weapon(s), other and mission suspicious order objects (in a house), amount, types, placement T4. Keeping the • Civilians and • Removing the • Letting the • The presence of civilians children are civilians from civilians, especially civilians interferes (especially moving in the the area of children, stay in with the operation children) outside area of operation the area of • Civilians might get area of operation/ operation hurt operation/field of potential field of fire/danger fire

Table 1. Tactics-related learning goals with associated cues, appropriate reactions, typical/possible mistakes and typical responses in case of mistake

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Learning Cues from the Appropriate Typical/possible Typical responses in goals environment reactions mistakes case of mistake G1. Close • A local woman • Female soldier • Male soldier • The woman gets contact with asks for/needs approaches the approaches the upset/hostile local women (medical) woman, talks to woman, talks to her • Negative reactions assistance (e.g. her and provides and in the worst case from the locals her clothes are necessary touches her while bloody) assistance attempting to provide • Presence/ assistance absence of • Male soldier enters other family the woman’s house members while no other family members are present G2. Female • Female soldier • Seating herself in • Taking a seat too • Negative reactions soldiers on a enters a house the back, with her close to the men from the hosts house visit with several legs together • Sitting in a ‘tailor’ local men position present G3. Verbal • Meeting a local • Female soldier • Male soldier greets • The woman gets contact with woman during greets the the woman upset, does not local women patrolling woman • Male soldier enters answer, turns away the woman’s house • Negative reactions while no other family from the locals members are present

Table 2. Gender-related learning goals with associated cues, appropriate reactions, typical/possible mistakes and typical responses in case of mistake

Learning Cues from the Appropriate Typical/possible Typical response in goals environment reaction mistake case of mistake R1. Correct • A man (men) • Showing respect, • Disturbing a praying • The praying behavior praying not disturbing, man with questions man/men might get during a waiting until the upset prayer prayer is over R2. Food • Being offered • Declining politely, • Accepting food right • Upset locals, but during refreshments finally accepting away probably no visible Ramadan during Ramadan some tea/water if response the host repeatedly insists R3. • Building with • No going inside • Failing to recognize • Offended Recognizing a minbar, dome, and disrupting the mosque, worshippers, mosque, minarets, the prayer unless behaving without due mullahs, locals in correct possibly audible emergency respect general behavior prayer calls • Respectful • Entering / disturbing in/outside behavior (taking during prayer time the mosque off shoes, silence) • Entering without taking off shoes

Table 3. Socializing-related learning goals with associated cues, appropriate reactions, typical/possible mistakes and typical responses in case of mistake

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Learning goals Cues from the Appropriate Typical/possible Typical responses in environment reactions mistakes case of mistake S1. Polite • Visiting or • Being generally • Greeting younger • Confused/offended/ greeting meeting locals, polite, greeting people/people uncooperative local their age, the elders before with lower status/ residents status, gender younger persons women first or women • Acting indiscreet • Respectful towards women, treatment of especially younger women ones S2. Providing • A local resident • Calling for • Breaking cultural • Negative reaction medical needs medical specialists/ rules for body from local residents, assistance to assistance ‘medics’ contact, especially both those receiving local population • Providing with regard to help and others medicines, women and • The wounded/ bandages etc. children patient refusing any • Following rules • Providing no medical assistance for body contact, medical assistance especially at all towards women S3. Dealing with • Local children • Avoiding • Giving chewing • Negative reactions children beg for children, not gum/candy to the from parents/other chewing giving them children, adults gum/candy anything encouraging them

S4. House visit • Being invited • Entering and • Going straight in, • Negative reactions on a formal taking a seat without invitation/ from the hosts house visit (by after a certain polite phrases/ • Conversation is the local chief) pattern greetings slow, takes time to • Need to get according to the • Failing to take off get necessary important rank, waiting for shoes / information, there information invitation helmet/sunglasses is a need for from the host • Taking off • Taking seats additional questions • Who is present shoes/helmet/ randomly, in the house, sun glasses regardless of rank/ their status • Starting with gender polite/informal • Going straight to ‘small talk’ the point, asking directly about security situation

Table 4. Socializing-related learning goals with associated cues, appropriate reactions, typical/possible mistakes and typical responses in case of mistake

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Learning goals Cues from the Appropriate Typical/possible Typical responses in environment reactions mistakes case of mistake L1. Basic polite • Contact with • Using • Wrong • Misunderstandings, phrases in local locals in appropriate pronunciation/ in the worst case language uncomplicated polite phrases formulation offence everyday in the right • Right situations context pronunciation/ formulation but in the wrong context L2. Interaction • Coming in • Translating as • The interpreter • Misunderstandings between the contact with correctly as fails to perceive and confusions interpreter, the local people in possible in a and mediate from both parts, in locals and the complex/ given context, cultural signals, to the worst case squad ambiguous in a balanced prevent and rectify offence situations, where and diplomatic potential conflicts • Conversation is one needs to manner • The interpreter slow, takes time to obtain important • Perceiving and speaks too get necessary information/ mediating little/unbalanced information, there perform complex cultural signals, with one of the is need for tasks attempting to parts, does not additional questions prevent and convey nuances rectify correctly potential • The interpreter conflicts translates everything ‘literally’ without any attempt to ‘gloss over’

Table 5. Language-related learning goals with associated cues, appropriate reactions, typical/possible mistakes and typical responses in case of mistake

Figure 5: Scene from the experiment in Second Life

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4.5 Future work

The methodology described in this chapter is an important outcome of the project and could be used further in connection with similar projects at the Norwegian Armed Forces. We are aware that the scripts developed using this methodology might provide an oversimplified representation of the reality. However, in accordance with the Naturalistic Decision Making approach (Klein, 1998; Hartog, 2009), these scripts provide ‘patterns’ necessary for making decisions under critical conditions and a basis/’skeleton’ for further improvisation. The experiment has showed the need for further research and development of the CAMO methodology for cultural awareness support in the Norwegian Armed Forces along the following directions:

• Integration with existing practices at the Norwegian Armed Forces. If the project is to be continued, the methodology should be harmonized with existing curriculum, doctrines and teaching plans within operational culture in Norway (and possibly other Nordic countries)

• Extension of the scenario foundation, including extension of the existing learning goals and corresponding mini-scenarios tables/database, with corresponding cues, responses, typical mistakes etc., to accommodate for a greater variety of possible educational simulations: o Iteration of existing mini-scenarios based on the experiment results o Expansion of existing learning categories, for example, new tactical learning goals: dealing with an ambush when entering an Afghan village o Differentiation of scenarios and challenges according to different user groups, for example officers, soldiers, interpreters, medical workers, active and peripheral participants (e.g. those securing the area during a role play) o Adjustments and adaptation of learning goals and corresponding scenarios for different destinations, for example countries other than Afghanistan. o Enhancing scenarios and the virtual environment with ‘dramatic’ elements for a more engaging user experience and focusing on certain aspects, ‘provoking’ the players and making them to face difficult choices (e.g. a simulated attack) etc.

• Formalization of role definitions, especially matching between military rank and difficulty levels in the scenarios

o Analogous to US MOS and US Department of Defense Language and Regional Proficiency Capabilities classifications o Matching between learning goals, difficulty levels in the scenarios and the level of the players/their military rank

• Requirements specification. To facilitate development and adaptation of virtual gaming environments, it is necessary to develop the methodology for definition and formalization of requirements specifications based on concrete learning goals

• Technological challenges

o Distance learning: further development of the methodology, scenarios and the virtual environment for distance and cooperative learning support, for example: . Joint exercises including Norwegian and Swedish Armed Forces . Exercises for soldiers/cadets stationed outside Oslo

o Agent technologies: existing research emphasizes the importance of frequent feedback during military training / simulations (se e.g. Surface et al., 2007; Caird-Daley et al., 2009). Also, experts who conduct debriefing during the game may have limited availability.

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Therefore, the possibilities for direct, automated feedback during the game should be explored further, e. g. by the use of agent technologies. Crowd simulation is another important application of agent technologies. As absence of civilians in a village may indicate ambush, crowd simulation is necessary to reflect a typical village life, thus presenting a realistic picture of the security situation. This could be implemented by introducing agents/non-playing characters with simple functionalities.

o Platform challenges: developing platform-independent methodology that could be applied to Second Life and other platforms such as VBS2.

4.6 References Caird-Daley, A., Dawson, B., Ciereszko, R., Osborne, B., Parker, I. (2009). Training decision making using serious games: Requirements analysis for decision making training. Report HFIDTC/2/WP4.6.2/1 for UK Human Factors Integration Defence Technology Centre, BAE Systems May 2009.

Endsley, M. R. (1995). Measurement of situation awareness in dynamic systems. In: Human Factors, 37(1), p. 65-84.

Hartog, C. (2009). Scenario design for serious gaming: guiding principles for the design of scenarios and curricula in military Job Oriented Training. Report for TNO Defense, Security & Safety/Delft University of Technology, January 2009.

Johnson, W. L. (2009). A Simulation-Based Approach to raining Operational Cultural Competence, in International Congress on Modelling and Simulation (MODSIM), 2009.

Klein, G. (1998). Sources of Power, How People Make Decisions. Cambridge: The MIT Press.

Phillips, J. (2001). Decision-centered MOUT training for small unit leaders, U.S. Army Research Institute for the Behavioral and Social Sciences, Fort Benning, GA, USA.

Singer, M. J. & Knerr, B. W. (2010) Evaluation of a Game-Based Simulation During Distributed Exercises, U.S. Army Research Institute for the Behavioral and Social Sciences, Research Report 1931, 2010.

Surface, E. & Dierdorff E. (2007). Special Operations Language Training Software Measurement of Effectiveness Study: Tactical Iraqi Study Final Report. Special Operations Forces Language Office, Tampa, FL.

Zielke, M. A. (2011) The First Person Cultural Trainer Whitepaper. Available from http://www.utdallas.edu/~maz031000/res/FPCT_White_Paper.pdf

Zsambok, C. E. (1997). Naturalistic decision making: Where are we now? In Caroline E. Zsambok, Gary Klein (Eds.), Naturalistic Decision Making. (pp. 3-16). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum

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5. Evaluation of the experiment 5.1 Introduction Staring point We used the learning goals identified in the project as the starting point for a questionnaire that was given to the participants before and after the experiment in Second Life (‘pre-/posttest’). The data from the experiment were analyzed using both qualitative and quantitative methods. The goal of the test has been to get an insight into what the soldiers learned about cross-cultural communication after being through a simulated mission in Second Life involving interaction with local population. The learning goals that had been defined beforehand, were concrete and easily verified: 1) Avoiding communication with local children, 2) Treating local women in a correct way, 3) Identifying a mosque, 4) Greeting in a polite and correct manner, 5) Carrying out a meeting with the village chief/’malik’ in accordance with cultural norms and codes, 6) Correct behavior towards the village chief and his men

Summary of the findings A short summary of the findings from the analysis is presented below, including learning and knowledge creation and recommendations for improvement of the technology and design.

Learning and knowledge creation Based on the data we have gathered during the experiment we have evaluated how the soldiers acquired knowledge by participating in the project and how they evaluated the use of the virtual platform for cultural awareness training. The scenarios in Second Life allowed the soldiers to try out interaction with village inhabitants and get exposed to visual representations of cultural artifacts such as clothing and buildings. The answers to the questionnaires provided an indication that they learned something about cross-cultural communication after going through the scenarios. Their answers show increased understanding of the cultural and religious aspects such as the gender perspective, cultural artifacts, use of language, social interaction and local customs. Some of this learning should be attributed to the debrief. Some of the soldiers disagreed that the experience in Second Life was suitable for correct evaluation of the threat situation. This can be attributed to the fact that there were very few inhabitants in the virtual village. The nuances of the answers will be elaborated further during the qualitative analysis. The soldiers could make different choices during the simulation, leading to different reactions and outcomes in the scenarios. Taking perspectives and dealing with different choices is central in this context. The different choices and their consequences were reflected upon during the debriefs, discussing what was done well and what could have been done differently.

Improvement suggestions for the design and technology We received feedbacks from the soldiers concerning the positive aspects and possible improvements in terms of using this technology for future cultural awareness training. Certain elements in Second Life can limit the flow and realism in the scenarios. These are connected to conversation and body language. The soldiers gave only positive feedbacks on the system’s user friendliness. It was easy to learn the necessary functions in Second Life to be able to participate in the simulation. One of the negative findings was that the ‘voice-chat’ function posed problems for communication and the gestures were not integrated well enough to be used efficiently. It could be mentioned that one of the soldiers who secured the area in the scenario felt he did not receive enough challenge during the game. He provided examples of additions to the scenario that could involve the soldiers more actively in the simulation. Due to the limited time and relatively few soldiers evaluating the system, the range of the experiment was less than originally planned. Therefore, we recommend new, more in-depth and focused studies.

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Limitations The analysis is based on the data collected through questionnaires, by observing interaction between the ‘Afghans’ and the soldiers (logging all the interaction in Second Life) and the interviews with the soldiers after the completion of the simulation. The conclusions presented in this report are based solely on the data collected during the experiment.

Possible sources of learning During the simulation, the soldiers got a certain insight into the Afghan culture and cross-cultural communication, based on the interaction with others and especially by observing the first squad leader, his ways of addressing different challenges and the Afghans’ reactions to his communication and actions. In addition the soldiers got exposed to various virtual representations of how an Afghan village could look like (the mosque, the buildings, the road, the terrain etc.). The scenarios that the soldiers worked through in Second Life provided a basis for evaluating their own performances and possibilities for reflecting on the choices they made and the challenges they met. How these challenges actually should be met was discussed in the debrief sections between the roleplay rounds. The soldiers also had the possibility to discuss the content of the scenarios and the debriefs with each other before they took the multiple-choice test (post-test) with questions on the Afghan culture so some of the learning could be attributed to these discussions. We focus on the learning and knowledge creation that we think can be connected to the use of Second Life, discussing where we unsure about the source.

5.2 Method and data collection Qualitative and quantitative methods We have collected data from different sources in order to have sufficient evidence for our claims and to be able to triangulate the data. We have combined qualitative and quantitative methods (‘mixed- methods approach’). The result of the quantitative analysis is a graphical visualization of the answers to the questions on cultural awareness and user friendliness of Second Life. The result of the qualitative analysis is a set of 5 categories of data (common goal, perspective taking, gender perspective, handling dilemma, user friendliness). These categories supplement the data from the questionnaires and are informed by both the learning goals and two theories within sociocultural research tradition. Through these categories we seek to explore the elements that Second Life could add to the learning process and that cannot be provided by other ‘traditional’ learning methods. We wished specifically to explore what interaction and collaboration modes in a virtual world facilitate learning, and how these can contribute to training cultural awareness through knowledge creation.

The two sociocultural theories used are not described in this report. Basically, they describe learning through interactions with others and mediated by ‘cultural artifacts’.

Observation The role plays have been recorded by using a commercially available software (BSR screen recorder). This program recorded everything taking place during the simulation in Second Life (relative to the position of the observer’s camera), including sound and image. Parts of this recording provided the data on interaction between the soldiers and the ‘Afghans’.

Questionnaires As mentioned before, the soldiers answered a web-based questionnaire before and after the role play. The goal of these pre-and posttests has been to access the cadets’ experience with cross- cultural communication and motivation for further training within the topic.

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After the role play, the cadets got another questionnaire with questions related to the suitability of Second Life as a platform for cultural awareness training, including usability issues and usage patterns (e.g. use of text chat, how actively it was used etc.). The answers were placed on a scale including: strongly agree, agree, neutral, disagree, and strongly disagree.

Debrief Totally 3 debriefs ca. 15 min. each, were integrated into the simulation, following the milestones in the mission plus one between the two role play rounds. The debriefs were carried out by an expert in Afghan culture participating in the project. What was said during the debriefs could have influenced what the soldiers learned. Therefore, it was included in the qualitative analysis as it served as an additional source (with amplifying effect) in the learning process.

Interviews Following the completion of the simulation, 3 of the soldiers participating in the project (one of the squad leaders, a female soldier and one of the interpreters) have been interviewed. The roles played by these soldiers allowed for a higher degree of interaction with each other and the ‘Afghans’ in the scenario, and therefore they could evaluate the educational design most efficiently. Our goal with the interviews have been to get feedbacks on the use of virtual worlds such as Second Life for cultural awareness support compared to other more traditional learning modes such as classroom education and real-life role play.

Motivation for the data selection The data that are presented here are a limited set of the collected data. However, these data are meant to be representative for all the data that are collected (ca. 2 hours of interaction data). We also present some ‘raw data’ to provide empirical evidence for our claims. Quantitative data function as an overview while the qualitative data allow in depth exploration of certain topics.

Discussing ‘cultural awareness’ results The first squad leader had already extensive experience after being twice on a mission in Afghanistan. He was also well acquainted with Afghan customs and culture. During the roleplay the other soldiers had the opportunity to observe how he addressed different challenges they met in Second Life. The design of the virtual village exposed them to the visual representations of e.g. how a mosque looks like in reality, how the Afghans dress and other cultural artifacts. During the debrief they got information of what was right and what could have been done differently and could therefore answer the multiple choice test on cross-cultural communication more easily. Though the learning could be attributed to other factors than the use of Second Life along, we find that the contribution of the simulation is significant, both in terms of promoting basic cultural awareness and providing motivation for participating in a virtual ICT based learning environment.

5.3 Qualitative and quantitative data We divide the presentation of the data and findings into two groups: quantitative and qualitative, on the basis of the data collection methods used: questionnaire (quantitative methods), observation of interaction in SL, debrief and the following interview (qualitative methods).

Quantitative data After completion of the roleplay the soldiers answered a questionnaire containing general questions on communication, culture and tactics. They also got questions on how they evaluated Second Life as a platform for cultural awareness training and how they extracted necessary cues/cultural information from the people and surroundings they met in the virtual Afghan village. The diagrams below provide a selection of these questions. The horizontal axis displays the different response

31 UNCLASSIFIED alternatives while the vertical axis displays the amount of responses for each alternative. After each table group, we provide a short summary of the findings.

Questionnaire on communication, culture and tactics (posttest)

It went quickly enough to learn Second Life user interface

8

6

4

2

0 Strongly disagree Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly agree

Table 6: User Interface

I think it was difficult to move the avatar around

8

6

4

2

0 Strongly disagree Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly agree

Table 7: Navigation in Second Life

The tables 6-7 show responses to the questions related to the user friendliness of Second Life. The feedbacks here are entirely positive. It did not take much time for the soldiers to learn the necessary functions in Second Life in order to participate in the simulation.

The difficulty level in the simulaon was too high

15

10

5

0 Strongly disagree Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly agree

Table 8: Difficulty level in the simulation

Most of the soldiers believed that the situations they encountered in the simulation were not too difficult and disagreed that the difficulty level was too high.

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I felt engaged in the roleplay

6

4

2

0 Strongly disagree Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly agree

Table 9: Engagement

The gaming experience was fun/movang

8

6

4

2

0 Strongly disagree Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly agree

Table 10: Gaming experience and motivation

Though many of the soldiers did not participate in the role play directly (since they secured the area), the majority agreed or strongly agreed that the gaming experience was fun and motivating. Many of the soldiers felt engaged by the role play.

I extracted taccal and cultural informaon from avatar clothing, their behavior and movements

8 6 4 2 0 Strongly disagree Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly agree

Table 11: Recognition and use of cultural artifacts

On the questions related to how the soldiers used the cultural information from the Afghan avatars and the surroundings in the village, many of the participants disagreed or were neutral that they extracted the information/cues from the cultural artifacts. This might be because of the soldiers securing the area since many of them did not interact with the Afghan avatars and could not take these factors into consideration. However, this is an issue that might be useful to pursue in further studies with a focus on virtual environment design and use of cultural artifacts.

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From your experience with the roleplay, do you think a soldier's knowledge of the local culture could have changed after using the system in relation to:

10 9 Strongly disagree 8 Disagree 7 6 Neutral 5 4 Agree 3 2 Strongly 1 agree 0 Use of language The role of The role of the General social Correct religion local customs interaction behaviour towards women

Table 12: The importance of various aspects of cultural awareness

The tables 12-13 illustrate the soldiers’ evaluation of the learning impact the educational experience in Second Life might have on the level of cultural awareness and communication skills. The majority of the soldiers agreed that participation in the simulation had a positive impact in relation to the cultural and religious aspects such as gender perspective, cultural artifacts, use of language, social interaction and local customs. Some of the soldiers disagreed that this experience allowed evaluating potential threats in an adequate way. This is most probably due to the fact that there were too few inhabitants in the village, something that might indicate an ambush. The categories of communication within the squad, understanding of topography and reconnoitering produced neutral or slightly negative responses. This is another topic that might be followed up in future studies.

9 Strongly 8 disagree 7 Disagree 6 5 4 Neutral 3 2 Agree 1 0 Reconnoitring in Correct Communicaon Beer Improving Strongly an afghan village idenficaon of and collaboraon understanding of understanding of agree threats within the squad topography cultural tools

Table 13: The importance of various aspects of cultural awareness (cont. table 12)

Questionnaire on cultural awareness (answered before and after using Second Life) The following diagrams present a selection of the questions in the multiple choice questionnaire on cross-cultural communication. Each question in the test had 3-5 possible response alternatives including both right and wrong answers. Most of the alternatives were wrong in order to increase difficulty level. The blue columns represent the answers to the pre-test before starting the role play while the red ones represent the corresponding answers to the identical post-test. The questions are based on the learning goals for the role play.

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If children in an Afghan village try making contact with you, what should you do?

14 12 10 8 Before 6 4 Aer 2 0 Start talking to them Give them candy Avoid contact Ask them to go home to their parents

Table 14: Communication with children (Learning goal 1)

When answering the question on communication with children in the pretest (Table 14), all the soldiers answered that they should start talking to the Afghan children if those attempt making contact. After the completion of the role play most of the soldiers answered that the contact with the children should be avoided. This topic was integrated in the role play and discussed during the debrief. The answers to the question on correct behavior towards women (in the pre-test) were rather spread across the range of possible responses. In the post-test, the answers are concentrated around the alternative “All communication should be done by a female soldier”. This is a topic the soldiers encountered in the roleplay and discussed during the debriefs. The gender perspective is elaborated in more detail in the data excerpts 5 and 6 in the qualitative analysis.

How should one communicate with a damaged Afghan woman?

14 12 10 Before 8 6 4 2 Aer 0 Does not maer She should be All communicaon You should let the whether a man or a transported out of should be done by a locals take care of woman the village as quickly female soldier the woman communicates with as possible her

Table 15: Behavior towards women (Learning goal 2)

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What would be the correct behavior if you are offered tea and cookies during Ramadan in the middle of the day?

14 12 10 Before 8 6 4 Aer 2 0 You may accept if the host It is polite to accept tea but Do not accept repeatedly insists not the cookies

Table 16: Recognizing cultural codes, part 1

The soldiers were offered tea and cookies during the meeting with the village chief/’malik’, something that was discussed during the debrief after completion of the role play. In the post-test, most of the participants answered that it is only appropriate to accept tea and refreshments if the host repeatedly insists, as opposed to the answers being spread over all the 3 categories in the pretest.

What are the typical external features of a mosque in an Afghan village?

14 12 10 8 6 4 Before 2 0 Aer It has strong It has a raised It has a minbar It has a large It looks like an colours entrance part dome on the ordinary house disnguishing it roof from other houses

Table 17: Typical external features of a mosque (Learning goal 3)

The data from Table 17 have been discussed during the debrief. In addition, the soldiers got a visual impression of how a mosque in an Afghan village might look like in Second Life.

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How should you greet an Afghan woman?

14 12 10 8 6 Before 4 2 0 Before greeng You don't need It is OK for male It should always You are not Aer her, you should to greet her soldiers to greet be done by a supposed to give her a gi before entering and talk to female soldier enter her house her house women without her husband present

Table 18: Greeting local women (Learning goal 2)

It was especially emphasized, both in the role play and the debriefs, how important it is that all communication with Afghan women should, if possible, be done by female soldiers. The results of pre- test show that soldiers are already to a certain extent familiar with the topic.

How should one proceed in order to obtain useful information from an Afghan woman?

14 12 10 Before 8 6 4 2 After 0 Let a female soldier A male soldier One might ask her It is not possible to do all the talking should contact the where the village get any useful woman chief is information from women in an Afghan village

Table 19: Obtaining information form women (Learning goal 2)

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How does one recognize the chief/'malik' in an Afghan village?

8 6 Before 4 2 Aer 0 He is higher than His turban is oen He is always the He never smokes a other people larger than other eldest man in the pipe people's village

Table 20: First meeting with the village chief/’malik’ (Learning goal 5)

What factors must be taken into account when you are inside the village chief's compound? 12 10 8 Before 6 4 2 0 After The order in Where the Taking off shoes Women may sit The order in which one village chief when entering beside the chief which one sits should sit down shall sit the house down is not essential

Table 21: Meeting with the village chief in his compound (Learning goal 6)

In some of the questions, there were no major changes in the answers to the pre- and posttest. It is illustrated through Tables 19-21. The impact for some of these topics was not the same as for example the gender perspective. There might be several reasons why there were no major changes. One reason might be poorly designed questions and response alternatives. Another reason might be that questionnaire is generally not the best source of data on this topic. Some of the questions become more nuanced when looking in depth at the corresponding interaction data that we present in the next section.

Qualitative data To analyze the qualitative data material, we have gone through the interaction logs in Second Life. We have used an iterative process in which we grouped data by using a so-called open coding technique. Data were placed in the named categories as they were ‘discovered’ in the data material (i. e., qualitatively different from previous data), and the categories were then renamed as we identified new instances of data. This form of data encoding is linked to the "Grounded Theory", because it starts with a ‘clean slate’ (with a minimal assumption of what to find and systematizing data into information along the way (‘bottom up’)). It is difficult to start from ‘scratch’ because any analysis is based on the researchers' previous knowledge and experience, and the guidelines set out in the project (project description, problem definition, learning goals, etc.). We have therefore used a combination of ‘top-down’ and ‘bottom-up’ data categorization. The following five categories have been identified: 1) Common goals, 2) perspective taking, 3) gender perspective, 4) handling dilemmas and 5) user friendliness. Each category is explained as follows: first, a brief description of

38 UNCLASSIFIED the context, then one or two representative examples of ‘raw data’, and finally a brief analysis discussing the findings and comparing them across the data material.

Common goal In the role play, the soldiers’ major goal (which was made very clear in the mission order and through the rest of the role play) was meeting the chief of the Afghan village, to get an overview of any Taliban activity in the area. All sub-goals originated from the major one.

Data set 1. The excerpt below shows a dialog between the squad leader and the village chief (malik). It takes place in Second Life in malik’s residence/compound towards the end of the 1st round of the role play.

Squad leader: It is a nice compound you have here, looks like life is good here. Interpreter/Malik: Yes life is good here. I am Malik in this village (..) Squad leader: Nice to hear. How many people live in this village? Interpreter/Malik: About a thousand Squad leader: I noticed you have a nice mosque in the village. (.) Who is the imam?

Interpreter/Malik Yes, our mosque is very beautiful. Haven’t you met the imam in the mosque? Squad leader: It is possible we have met him, but unfortunately we did not have an opportunity to greet him properly. Interpreter/Malik He has been mullah in the mosque for eight years His father was mullah in this mosque, too.

During the dialog, the squad leader gets an answer to two central questions about the village: how many inhabitants the village has and who is the imam in the mosque. Both answers come after a short introduction/ ‘small talk’ including some compliments (e.g. ”nice compound”, ”nice mosque”). This is one of the several social codes that the soldiers need to master in order to get important information from Malik.

Data set 2. The excerpt below shows a dialog that took place by the end of the conversation between the squad leader and the village chief/malik.

Squad leader: Nice to hear that everything is OK in the village. It looks like that the security situation is OK here, too. Interpreter/Malik: No, the security situation in the village is not that good. Taliban attacked us and the ISAF soldiers have fired back. ISAF soldiers come here and ransack the village. This makes people very angry.

The soldiers believe that people here in the village are Taliban, but there are no Interpreter/Malik: Taliban in the village. Taliban are in Pakistan. Interpreter/Malik: We don’t have Pakistani or Chechens here. Our people are decent, all of them.

Yes, but you mentioned that Taliban attacked you, did they come all the way Squad leader: from Pakistan to attack you?

They come from Pakistan, hide in the area and attack us Interpreter/Malik:

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In this dialog the squad leader makes the malik to ’open up’ by starting the conversation with some ‘small talk’. The goal of this scene is to behave in a correct and culturally sensitive way towards the malik and his men, exchanging polite phrases. As illustrated in the transcription of the dialog above, the squad leader succeeds in this, obtaining the information he needs about Taliban activity in the area.

Perspective Taking (common understanding) To achieve the goal of the mission the soldiers had to take into account the cultural and religious point of view of the Afghans. They also needed to use the knowledge they already had of this area to solve various situations they encountered. Communication was essential to both the Afghans and the Norwegian soldiers in order to understand the others' perspectives. The opportunities and constraints associated with this are described in data sets 3-4.

Data set 3. It was mostly the squad leaders that determined how communication with the Afghans developed, but the interpreters were in a unique position of being able to communicate with the Afghans directly. In this excerpt he asked the interpreter about the impression she got from a woman they just talked to and how to act towards people who pray in the mosque.

Squad Interpreter, I need to talk with you. leader: Interpreter: Yes Squad What impression did you have of the lady? Was she (.) Would she talk? Is this a leader: Pashtun city? Interpreter: She seems to be like that... She spoke Dari. She was shy and when we came in she asked the children to pull away and that this was dangerous. So I think it is useful to talk a little bit longer with those we meet (.) To show that we are not a threat Squad Yes, but it sounds fine. What do you recommend about the mosque now? I suggest leader: that we stand here and wait until they come out. Interpreter Agree Squad Now we just wait here until they come out leader:

By gaining an insight into how the villagers perceive the soldiers, it would be easier for the squad leader to understand the Afghan perspective and adapt communication in accordance with their reactions. Here the squad leader gets the information that it is useful to spend more time talking more with those the squad meets, so that people in the village feel safe around the soldiers and understand that they are there to help.

Data set 4. This excerpt from the reflection round shows how the soldiers based on the knowledge they already have on cross-cultural communication reflect on how to deal with the Afghans in the village. To what extent one should take into account their needs and how sensitive you should be in relation to their cultural background.

Soldier 1: So we talk a lot about us respecting the Afghans, respecting the culture and being humble. But one must not forget that we represent a culture, too (.) And the Afghans are also aware of that. If you are humbled by the people you talk to, it can give them a

bad opinion of you. It is important that you dare to stand up for what you represent as

well (.) it is about pushing the Afghans a little bit and because (.) they have a slightly different agenda than we have. We do not have the time they have (.) so you have to

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push a bit (.) Soldier 2: It's a very big difference between being humble and being weak

Perspective taking is central to any communication process with people you do not know. It happens in stages, and more or less consciously. First, one must understand that it is a necessity, then how it is exercised in practice, and eventually find a balance that serves both parties because they may have different goals. Otherwise, the conversation might be interrupted. Proper perspective taking of key stakeholders is a prerequisite for the team to achieve its goals. Data set 3 shows an early phase of perspective taking, while data set 4 shows a late stage. The understanding that is shown in the data set 4 is acceptable but only if one has mastered the earlier stages, but will be problematic if one has not.

Gender Perspective Gender perspective is a special form of perspective-taking. In the scenarios the soldiers were confronted with gender-related challenges in several situations: in communication with men, women and children. The special focus was on the problems that could arise if these challenges were not addressed properly. The Afghan woman in the scenarios will react differently depending on whether a woman or a man tries to talk to her. The following excerpt illustrates how the soldiers can learn more about taking this element into account when communicating with the Afghans.

Data set 5. In this excerpt the soldiers in the squad talk to a damaged Afghan woman. She damaged her head when she fell from the house roof and needs medical assistance. The female soldier in the squad talks to the woman, using a female interpreter.

05:22 Female soldier: Do you want us to bandage your wound? We can do that for you. Interpreter/Afghan Thanks a lot, but it must be a woman who bandages me woman: 05:55 Female soldier: It is OK. I will help you with your head. 05:59 Female soldier: Squad leader, I am going to use my medical kit to bandage her head. 06:10 She wants a woman to help her. Squad leader: Received. When you are finished tell her there is nothing more we 06:20 can do, we don’t have a doctor with us. Thank her politely and withdraw from the building, so that we proceed to our primary meeting, over.

In this situation the soldiers got an understanding of the importance of the gender perspective by observing the Afghan woman’s reactions on their and the squad leader’s actions (e.g. choosing to stay outside the woman’s house and letting the female soldiers inside to provide the necessary assistance). The squad leader stayed outside during the conversation since foreign men are not supposed to go into a woman’s house while she is alone there. The Afghan woman could hear the squad leader’s conversation with a male paramedic who was ready to help. Therefore she emphasized that she wished a woman to take care of her wound, though there were only women present in her house.

Data set 6. The squad leader in the second round of the role play started with a male interpreter. The Afghan woman was one of the first village inhabitants they met. Though the squad leader had a female interpreter available, he continued using the male interpreter in the dialog with the woman. Also, the soldiers (avatars) stood too close to the woman.

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The two squad leaders resolved this situation in different ways. This was discussed during the final debrief, where the person leading the session noted: "I am not quite happy that you did not consider using any women with the lady at the beginning of the game. You handled the children fine. I think the men who approached her appeared rather aggressive. "

If a female soldier or interpreter is available, it may be an advantage to let all the communication go through her. If one does not take cultural and religious factors, such as gender perspective, into consideration during communication with the Afghans, it might be difficult to make them ‘open up’. In this case it would have been easier to communicate with the Afghan woman if one had taken into account how gender differences can affect communication. It is of great importance that the villagers get a good impression of the soldiers and do not see them as a threat, so that they could execute their mission more effectively.

Handling Dilemma (in situations where the right answer is not given) As the examples above clearly show, cross-cultural communication is complex. There are often no clear answers on how to communicate with people from a foreign culture as there will always be differences in how people react to your actions, even within one country's culture. During the role play the soldiers could choose freely how to solve the various situations they encounter, where to move and whom to talk to. The soldiers were not given any restrictions on how to communicate with the Afghans and the Afghans had no strict script for their interactions with the soldiers and were encouraged to improvise. In this category we have dealt with situations in the role play where there have been no unambiguous answers to how the situation needs to be resolved.

Data set 7. When the first squad leader was on his way to the village chief, he made it clear that he could not take off his shoes, because he always had to ‘be on guard’, being able to act quickly if something unforeseen should happen. Here is an example of this, following up the conversations in data sets 5-6.

Interviewer: Is there anything, you can give an example? Was there anything special that you noted in connection with it? Squad Yes both talking to women, treatment of the woman, walking into the house and leader: explaining that you are a soldier. You are here as a soldier and I cannot take off my shoes because I have to be ‘on guard’ and explain it to them. From my experience, they know it already, but it's okay to mention it. Squad This is the dialogue referred to above: leader: Say the following, sorry I cannot take off my shoes when I come in, but that is because I am a soldier and I have always to be on guard. Interpreter: It is not important. It is OK.

Taking off one’s shoes before entering a house is something that is considered courteous and is expected in Afghan culture. The squad leader had two possible choices, to deal with the Afghans' cultural expectations or to keep his shoes on for safety reasons. He chose to keep his shoes on when he entered the chief's compound. Based on his previous experience, he assumed that this would most likely be accepted without leading to any conflict.

Data set 8. Another dilemma example was described in the interview after the meeting with the village children at the mission start. The female soldier described it as a learning experience, on whether one should talk with children in an Afghan village.

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06:41 Interviewer: As a very last question, you've never been to Afghanistan before, did you get any kind of aha experiences, or something that you thought you learned that you would not have learned otherwise? Female I actually got plenty of aha experiences. So I felt that (.) actually, we've soldier: learned a bit about it a while ago (.) You must be very conscious of what you do then … that we (. ) do not talk to the children. I thought, we have to talk to the children, for example, and somehow it's okay that we do not talk to the children. I understand that after a while. It is the concept of time, and I noticed that M was actually rather good there, he was okay, like, terrific that you say that but now we must go further and like that. You sort of learn from it in a way.

This excerpt shows how the female soldier acquired new knowledge, by observing how the squad leader solved different situations in the simulation. She learned about how to deal with children, how to prioritize time and whom you talk to, when you have limited time. This is also to some extent reflected in the pre- and posttest in Table 14, where most of the soldiers answered that talking with the children should be avoided in the post-test.

User friendliness The following data sets deal with user friendliness of the Second Life environment and the motivation of the participants.

Data set 9. This is an excerpt from the interview with the female soldier who was active in communicating with the Afghans.

Female soldier: What I think is great about it is that it did not take long time. I was not bored and I did not exactly have to stand out and freeze, to put it like that. So, in a way I got very much out of it during a very short time. Since it is a game and something new, I noticed it is not…

The flow is not as good as if I should….I mean if I were there I would know how Female soldier: to sit, but I did not in the game, it has something to do with training you have already. But I must say for someone who is completely ‘green’, and who hates PC gaming this was very easy for me. I managed to control, I managed to sit down and stand up after a while and doing what I needed to.

In the simulation this female soldier was one of those interacting most with the Afghans. The first squad leader chose to use her in the interaction with the woman in the village. She mentions here that the conversation with this woman made her nervous and that she to a great degree immersed herself into this new role. This shows that the simulation in Second Life is capable of providing a high degree of realism and immersion. She also comments that she basically had no difficulty familiarizing herself with the technical elements of Second Life such as maneuvering her avatar but there was one thing she had a problem with. When she sat down in the meeting with the chief, she had her legs in the tailor position. This was something discussed during the debrief afterwards, that for a woman it is an advantage to sit with her legs together. So one needs to choose a sitting position in Second Life where one’s legs are together.

Data set 10. This quote is an excerpt from the reflection round after the completion of the role play. One of the soldiers who secured the area tells about his problems with taking part in the discussions in the simulation.

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06: 47 Soldier: The first thing I think of in terms of pure gaming purposes. It is fair enough that you need to secure the area, but I will not get anything out of the conversation so that I will not learn anything. And then it is just sitting and looking at the screen well okay what happens now? Unless I zoom in and seek information, but then I stop doing what I am supposed to do.

Project leader: Yes, quite right. Good point, good point. And that is something we found out really fast huh. This does not function as the radio communication in the field. This is a function you lose. You have to be near people to hear and communicate, so it is quite right.

The soldiers used ‘voice chat’ feature in Second Life for communication in the role play. When one uses this feature one needs to be within a certain range from the sound source in order to hear what is being said. Some of the soldiers who secured the area were outside the range of sound and were therefore not included in the conversations between the soldiers and the Afghans. We got feedback on how this can be improved, to increase user friendliness of Second Life as a training platform, something we discuss in the next section.

Figure 6: Scene from the experiment in Second Life

5.4 Suggestions for technology improvements The following suggestions for improvements are based on feedback the soldiers provided in the questionnaires and interviews. They are organized in a list. The original feedbacks are written with quotation marks. Where we found it necessary the feedbacks were reformulated by us in more general terms. • Body language can be of great importance for making communication more ‘alive’ and for a greater degree of immersion, which is a key part of the simulation. In Second Life it is possible to use some body language or so-called ‘gestures’. In the interview with the female interpreter the issue of "gestures" was discussed in connection with the possibility of using facial expressions and body language in Second Life. In a quote from the interview she says: "I think body language

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and facial expressions were almost absent. You could not act the way you would in real life then. Especially, when talking to the Afghans. The way you act, to show humility and willingness to cooperate maybe. It becomes very clinical then when you remove all facial expressions. An example of body language that was used in the simulation is that the injured Afghan woman cried in front of the soldiers. Due to limited time, we did not integrate this feature in the training to any significant extent. It is possible to use these features to a greater degree compared to what was done during this simulation.

• Communication. Many of the soldiers who secured the area in the village did not get what was happening in the simulation, due to the significant distance between their avatar and the sound source. One of the soldiers mentions in the questionnaire the possibility of using communication equipment rather than the built-in ‘voice chat’ feature in Second Life. He says: "Much has been good in the game, but it would help with an in-depth walk-through of the actual images before the game. Communication conditions might be improved so that you could actually talk, e.g. the three that go together, LO CT-manager and an interpreter together, actually talking in the room and not through the headset, this will make it more realistic.” By using communication equipment one would not be dependent on being close to the avatars that speak in order to pick up orders and conversations going on. This would also provide the soldiers with training possibilities in the use of communications equipment.

• Realism: It was also mentioned by several soldiers in the interviews that there should have been more people in the village. Few people in the village may indicate an ambush. One possibility here would have been to create avatars not controlled by the players (NPCs), imitating village inhabitants by moving around etc. Having multiple avatars in the village would provide an indication of normal conditions, i.e. no threats that the soldiers need to deal with.

• Active participation: Many of the soldiers who secured the area in the scenario, took no direct part in the communication with the Afghans and had therefore little to do. One of the soldiers commented in the questionnaire: "This has many possibilities. During the experiment we participated in only a few could experience communicating and using an interpreter. It would be an advantage to increase the difficulty level, or to a greater extent adding elements for those who are not involved in conversations. For example, provide some challenges for those who secure the area. Might be someone who is angry, irritated, more kids, encountering dead people and so on. Challenges related to their com. With their ‘boss’ in the scenario. Otherwise, this can provide several possibilities in a deployment environment to increase understanding among troops preparing for international operations ". Here he comes with suggestions for introducing different challenges for those who secure the area as well, so that they also receive training in dealing with unforeseen events and in communicating with the Afghans.

• Peripheral participation: Not all the soldiers had an equally good basis for assessing the content of the scenarios (see Table 11), since they did not have to deal with the cultural artifacts in the village and did not communicate with the Afghans. This might have affected the results of the multiple choice test with questions about culture, since many of the soldiers did not directly observe or hear how the squad leader communicated with the Afghans and resolved the various situations he encountered (see Table 14). The educational design and the content of the scenarios would be easier to evaluate if more soldiers participated actively in the role play.

5.5 Conclusions Summary of the qualitative data The major goal that the soldiers worked towards, i.e. obtaining information about Taliban activity in

45 UNCLASSIFIED the village, ran as a thread through the analysis of the qualitative data. During the simulation, the soldiers took the cultural factors they encountered into account and acted accordingly. We showed the different means the soldiers used to obtain their goal in our analysis.

In the common goal category, we see how the squad leader proceeds to get the necessary information from the village chief, to get ahead in the roleplay.

In the perspective taking category, we show how the soldiers adjust communication in accordance with the Afghans' cultural and religious perspective and how they can reflect on the issue of representing their own culture in communication with the Afghans.

In the gender perspective category, we see how the soldiers need to take gender issues into account when communicating with the Afghan women and how this is done in different ways by the two squad leaders.

In the handling dilemma category, the interaction data show that the soldiers were capable of acting freely and solving situations based on previous experience.

The interview data revealed that some of the soldiers gained new knowledge by observing the squad leader’s actions in the 1st round of the role play. The soldiers were confronted with several choices leading to different reactions and outcomes in the simulation. Afterwards these choices were reflected upon during the debrief session, discussing what was done well and what could be done in a different way.

Summary of quantitative data The questionnaire results indicate that the soldiers are generally positive to the use of virtual learning environments for training cultural awareness. The fact that many of the soldiers were not active in the simulation affected the questionnaire results, since not all the participants had an equally good basis for answering some of the questions on cultural artifacts and communication with the Afghans. In the questionnaire the soldiers answered a question in which they assessed the impact on knowledge of communication with the locals resulting from the use of the simulation (in relation to the different categories within communication, culture and tactics (Tables 12-13)). There was a variation in the answers on what categories provide most impact. When it comes to cross- cultural communication, the majority agreed that the knowledge of the local customs and proper treatment of women is important. The responses concerning tactics were spread across different categories, with a majority of answers being "neutral" and "agree".

These are examples of findings that should be taken into account in further studies. The results from the multiple choice test on cross-cultural communication show that there have been questions with no major change between pre- and posttests and questions where such a change was rather significant. The latter ones were mostly based on the issues raised in the simulation and during debriefing. Where there were changes, they were entirely positive. It provides strong evidence that the soldiers indeed learned about cross-cultural communication that day.

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Appendix 1: Observation of the experiment and reflections on the concept of "cultural awareness"

By David Hansen, associate professor, Peace and Conflict studies, Bjørknes University College

Introduction I (David Hansen, an associate professor at Bjørknes University College (Oslo)) have during the period June to December 2011 participated in the Norwegian Defense University College / ADL office's project Experiment with the use of 3D platform for learning in the Norwegian Armed Forces - Cultural Awareness in Military Operations (CAMO ). My role in the project has been to assist the project with expertise in cultural awareness related to military operations in Afghanistan. This involved working with scenario development, preparation of background documents, including the development of role descriptions for the virtual characters (avatars) and detailing of learning goals as well as internal education and debriefing of the cadets participating in the project. This is my report following the completion of the project.

The report will briefly summarize what is meant by cultural awareness, and a little about how this concept was operationalized in the project. This summary is followed by a brief and overall evaluation of the role play that was conducted as the project's 'exam' on November 25th 2011 with participants from the Norwegian Defense School for Intelligence and Security (BSES), Norwegian Defense University College (FHS), Spor3 AS, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), University of Oslo (UiO), as well as Bjørknes University College - represented by myself. In addition, I have noted certain aspects of general nature related to the project structure and collaboration between the participants, seen in the light of the project’s goals and means. Finally, this report includes a short conclusion - with certain recommendations for the way forward (if it is to be followed).

About cultural awareness A Norwegian military force operating in foreign countries would regardless of the composition and organizational affiliation have a need for culture-related knowledge – in order to carry out their missions in a best possible way (either missions taking place in Afghanistan, Sudan, Syria, the Balkans or other area of operation). In brief, there are major cultural differences between what a Norwegian soldier is used to from Norway, and even other international operations, and what one is met with on the ground in Afghanistan - whether it is in Kabul or in a district such as Maymanah, Northern Afghanistan.

For this document and the CAMO project the concept of culture is specified to encompass cross- cultural issues covering general operational culture, including aspects related to gender and language, limited to tactical scenarios in Afghanistan. This is considered to be of primary relevance for the forces of Provincial Reconstruction Teams (PRT), Military Observation Teams (MOT), tactical coaches that operate in cooperation with local Afghan forces (Afghan National Army-ANA and Afghan National Police ANP) and Special Operations Forces (SOF). It would also be relevant to the staff officers serving in the International Security and Assistance Force (ISAF), as well as individual contributions, such as field hospital personnel, mine-clearing personnel, Norwegian police elements in Afghanistan, and other smaller units and individual officers serving in other NATO / UN positions in Afghanistan. In a wider context, some other actors, such as embassy personnel, non-governmental organizations and media personnel, could also benefit from the learning insights and knowledge derived from the project.

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Since Afghanistan is very complex and ethnically diverse, it was necessary to prioritize, focusing in particular on the cultural aspects typical of the Pashtun ethnic group - especially because it has a special relevance in relation to what can be characterized as the real enemy image. Empirically, there is a basis for claiming that it is primarily Pasthuns who, together with so-called foreign fighters, pose the greatest risk to the Norwegian forces operating in Afghanistan in general, and for soldiers stationed in Northern Afghanistan in particular. The document and the learning goals included in the practical work of the experiment, however, caught up the cultural aspects of a more general character - with validity beyond Pashtuns - to the extent that was appropriate and necessary to describe the cultural aspects. Furthermore, the project also focuses on the generic aspects of culture.

Operational culture and scenarios - Afghanistan Operational culture means practical, specific and applicable knowledge about cultural issues related to, among other things, rhetorical and linguistic factors: religion (Islam), myths, folklore and superstition, crime and local conflicts, interpersonal relationships and psyche, power, position and social conditions.

Practically applicable knowledge means knowledge that a single man, a patrol, a team, or others should be to able to use in their everyday work in interaction with and in the analysis of friendly, as well as hostile local citizens and social structures in general - with the intent to implement their operations in the best possible way (my definition). Another perspective on cultural awareness can be found in Holo and Andreassen (2010: 8), which states that cultural awareness (in general) is about, "Norwegian forces’ understanding of the local context in the operational area and their approach to local moral, ethical, cultural and legal borders, in cooperation with both the civilian population, allied military and the enemy." Both definitions emphasize the importance of identifying the relevant aspects of culture that affect military operations and that helps us to understand the effects of our actions in the light of the socio-cultural composition of the operational environment. Focus on culture allows (theoretically) military units and partners to use knowledge of foreign culture for the following purposes:

• Understanding the specific socio-cultural actions (or non-actions) • Understanding FI mindset • Exerting influence on the population • Improving interaction with other players in the AO • Justifying own actions 1

The above points also constitute the overall learning goals for this project. During the experiment the practically applicable knowledge was conveyed through practical learning objectives that had been embedded into the simulated training including local ‘Afghans’ in a virtual world based on Second Life platform. Due to limitations in the experiment frame, these learning objectives had been limited by the duration of the training sessions in the simulator (about 45 minutes).

Evaluation of the experiment November 25th The role play was conducted in two rounds, with (almost) the same scenario sequences for both 'squad leaders'. The first squad leader had previously served in Afghanistan on several occasions, and thus had some relevant knowledge of Afghan culture. The second squad leader had no practical experience from Afghanistan.

First round

1 From: MNE-6 / GUIDELINES FOR COMMANDERS AND STAFFS: OPERATIONALIZATION OF CULTURE INTO MILITARY OPERATIONS, s. 7-8.

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The first round was characterized by the fact that the squad leader had good control and communication with the rest of his team. He had a good ability for using tactical commands, used the interpreter in an appropriate way and was good at communicating his assessments (of how the team should meet cross-cultural challenges) and asking for assistance from those with a cultural competence (the interpreter). Further details of the implementation are not included.

On a general level - set against the overall learning objectives of the project (i.e. Understanding the specific socio-cultural actions (or non-actions); Understanding FI mindset; Exerting influence on the population; Improving interaction with other players in the AO, and, Justifying own actions), this implementation very good – with, I would argue, direct positive outcomes as a result of the simulator training. The subsequent formal interview with the squad leader (together with the University of Oslo), also revealed that the squad leader felt that he had learned enormously much from the simulation. The squad leader added that at his level, it might be appropriate to have some (classroom) education prior to the practical implementation in the simulator.

Second round The major difference between the second and first rounds was that the second squad leader did not serve in Afghanistan, and was possibly not as experienced as the first. It was, however, the second round that in my opinion emphasized the very positive contributions to learning provided by the project - because most of it was new to this squad leader. The squad leader had a somewhat reduced ability to tactical command, had no previous experience with the use of interpreters (which resulted in him failing to use the interpreter as a cultural advisor), and was generally more uncertain as a leader. (However, I would like to emphasize that this in no way says anything about the officer's general ability to be a good officer, but rather about his lack of experience from international operations).

This implementation has clearly illustrated the use of simulation as a learning platform - and clearly had very positive effects. I will not describe the detailed / tactical outcomes of the simulation here, but would rather emphasize the interactive and iterative learning that took place and that, for my part, appeared as a positive surprise and definitely as a platform that should be used more in the cultural awareness training in the Norwegian Armed Forces.

General evaluations of the project The project group, as described above, contributed to achieving the goal of the experiment / simulation in Second Life by implementing an iterative and sequenced process consisting of the following phases: scenario development, experimental design, preparation of the experiment and the implementation of the experiment. This appeared to me as a good way of working - especially when the project's staff mostly came from different institutions, representing almost optimal composition and variety. However, I believe that parts of the experimental design development and preparation planning for the experiment implementation would have benefited from tighter collaboration - with either physical meetings (work meetings) or by the use of video conferencing – which, in my opinion, would had saved some amount of back-and-forth e-mail correspondence with proposals from the various project team members. However, this describes an ideal situation as the actual collaboration exceeded all expectations.

I had some second thoughts about putting the cadets into a situation without prior sessions in a classroom. This ambivalence was also present during the experiment implementation- as I thought it might be irresponsible to just ’let the future foreign troops' being potentially exposed to error learning - in that they find a solution themselves or that they would not be guided enough during implementation. I would however say that my ambivalence was calmed down by the fact that we actually managed to accomplish some education during the experiment - which was also measurable

49 UNCLASSIFIED afterwards (see the results from the University of Oslo). It should be stressed here is that if the same is to be repeated later, it would then (as in our case) be important to include a cultural adviser in the implementation - in order to capture the elements that need to be adjusted, providing detailed feedback and providing general debriefing during the experiment (which was my role during the experiment). There is always a certain danger in such projects, where the vast majority of participants does not have complete knowledge of military operations - as well as the requirements and approach forming the basis for field operations. Therefore, such projects should include an officer or civilian with such expertise.

Conclusions I am (more than) very positive for the use of simulation tools like Second Life for educational purposes for personnel to be trained in cultural awareness. The advantages of using Second Life seem to be many - from accessibility, the opportunity for modeling avatars/artifacts, low user threshold, to (some) security (through the use of restricted access to virtual spaces). It should not fully and completely replace regular training in cultural awareness in the classroom and subsequent practical training - as it is still not possible to conduct a wide range of training using distributed/simulated learning. Put together with traditional learning contexts, the virtual platforms - configured /modeled to relevant areas of operation –are very good solutions complementary to traditional teaching / learning.

This is also my impression after the informal talks/debriefing with the participants in the experiment. My recommendation would be (still) to focus on the use of commercially available platforms such as Second Life for cultural awareness training of personnel. However, it is important to recognize that cultural experts, depending on the geographic area to practice on, should be connected from the start - although there are a number of generic opportunities with such systems. These cultural experts should also be involved in the work from an early stage. I would also emphasize that in the future it should be considered whether this form of learning should take place after a traditional classroom instruction is given (for reasons mentioned above).

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Appendix 2: Afghan Village Design and Implementation

By Mikhail Fominykh, Ph.D-student, NTNU

The project scenario describes the main location for the educational simulation – the virtual environ- ment Afghan village. The design and development of the environment went through several stages and was influenced by a number of factors. This section provides the implementation process and the description of the environment itself.

Initial requirements According to the initial requirements, the Afghan village should have been built in a skybox, on an Akershus island in Second Life. The village should have had a number of objects, such as few houses, animals, landscape elements and some artifacts. It was also required to create clothing for avatars: local people and Norwegian soldiers.

Information search This set of general requirements allowed to start searching for information about Afghan villages to make the virtual environment as authentic as possible. The information was collected from the various sources in the Internet, including the Norwegian Armed Forces photo database.

Skybox setup The next stage was building a skybox on an Akershus island in Second Life. The skybox is basically a floating platform at a height of 500 meters. The platform was not visible from the Akershus ground level, but was connected with a teleport.

Collection of 3D resources In parallel to the skybox setup, it was conducted a search for relevant 3D objects, textures, and scripts. The main source was the Second Life marketplace (a portal for trading virtual content). A regular Second Life search was also used, as the virtual world residents often share their creations for free. The search was based mostly on the images earlier found on the web. There were found some landscape elements (such as bushes, rocks, and trees), furniture, old rusty buildings, and relevant textures (such as for sand, rugs, and stone walls).

Design of typical elements After the platform was set up, it was possible to start building and co-locating some typical elements of the environments. The typical elements included such objects as large rocks, hills, walls, windows, furniture, pieces of road, and fences. These typical elements were later copied (sometimes slightly modified) and used in multiple places in the environment. After receiving feedback and comments from other project participants and subject experts, some of the typical elements were modified or replaced.

Element assembling and placement The process of assembling environment elements and locating them on the map began when the new version of requirements was ready. The new requirements contained a number of additional buildings to be implemented, such as a school and a mosque. At this stage the environment was visited by the subject experts for a number of times. They advised on how to make the environment more authentic.

Scenario artefacts The project scenario was relying on the use of a number of key objects – artifacts. The list of scenario artifacts had been specified in each new version of requirements. These objects were designed or

51 UNCLASSIFIED built on the Second Life marketplace and included such objects as a ball, a medical kit, a photo camera, and table ware.

Design of avatars Two groups of avatars were prepared for the simulation: local Afghan people and Norwegian soldiers. The uniform and weapon for the soldiers were ordered and developed by a private Second life company. Each avatar though had to be ‘dressed’ in the uniform and female uniform had to be modified to fit the avatar’s body. The weapon had two positions (active and passive) and could be switched from one to another. The clothing for the Afghan people was partly designed and partly bought on the Second Life marketplace, while most of the articles bought were later modified in accordance with the comments from subject experts.

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