Dr. Aubteen Darabi

Introduction
It is no longer news that the United States is under the constant threat of terrorism. Protecting its borders and ports presents an enormous challenge because of the immensity of the task (DHS, 2004; Bodenheimer, 2003). This task involves over 500 million people who cross our borders each year. Protection covers approximately 5,525 miles of border with Canada and 1,989 miles of border with Mexico. Further, this undertaking spans more than 95,000 miles of shoreline covered by more than 350 commercial ports of entry with 21,000 containers entering U.S. ports each day (Hasson, 2003).

The U.S. government must balance the challenging task of protection of its vast homeland with all its common entries against the demand for the free flow of commerce. Recognizing the importance of international trade to the U.S. economy, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is committed to not only protect the borders, but also “ensuring the speedy, orderly, and efficient flow of lawful traffic and commerce” (United States Congress House Select Committee on Homeland Security, 2002).

The Award
In response to this demand, The Learning Systems Institute (LSI) at Florida State University (FSU) submitted the proposal “Developing and Improving Port Facilities’ Individual and Team Skills to Prevent, Deter, and Respond to Domestic Terrorist Acts.” After a rigorous, independent peer review evaluation of approximately 250 applications, the DHS Office for Domestic Preparedness selected 14 grantees. LSI was awarded the largest amount of $6.18 Million from the Fiscal Year 2005 Competitive Training Grants Program (CTGP) for the period of October 1, 2005 to September 30, 2007.

Project Staff
A team of qualified FSU faculty and staff with expertise in designing and delivering technology-mediated and classroom-based instruction and training, simulation, evaluation, and port security is committed to plan, develop, and implement this project. In addition to the qualified instructional designers and developers, the team includes Dr. A. Aubteen Darabi, Project Director, Dr. Laura Lang, Director of LSI, Dr. J. Michael Spector, and Mr. Rabieh Razzouk both Associate Directors of LSI, and Dr. Robert K. Branson, our Performance Technology expert. Lt. Col. G. Stephen Lauer, our port security resident expert, is the project manager and port liaison and Mr. Judd Butler, a Ph.D. candidate in Instructional Systems is managing the design and development of the training courses. This team is operating at the Center for National Security Training and Research (CNSTAR) which is dedicated to enhancing national security by conducting research on learning and instruction, applying principles of performance technology, and designing and developing, and evaluating innovative training solutions.

Collaborations
The project enjoys the support and collaboration of many seaports and national training academies and federal law enforcement training centers. Through conducting comprehensive needs assessment for the first phase of the project, CNSTAR solicited and received the support of many agencies such as U.S. Merchant Marine Academy and Federal Law Enforcement Training Centers in Glynco, Georgia and Charleston, South Carolina. CNSTAR also has the support of an impressive number of the nation’s most critical and largest seaports as the project training sites. These collaborating ports include:

• New York and New Jersey
• Los Angeles/ Long Beach
• Houston
• Everglades
• Canaveral
• Palm Beach
• JAXPORT
• Seattle
• Tacoma
• Charleston
• New Orleans
• San Diego

Project Goals
The goal of the project is to improve port security performance by providing training that involves customized training courses for multiple target audiences at the nation’s seaports. The curriculum will be systematically implemented across the nation to close the knowledge and skill gap in providing complete port security.

This goal is broken into several program objectives that are accomplished through the application of instructional strategies in the proposed training curriculum. After completion of the proposed curriculum, port security personnel and teams will demonstrate measurable improvement in the following competencies dealing with the threat of Weapon of Mass Destruction (WMD). Specifically, participants will improve their:

• Awareness of the threat situations
• Knowledge and skills for preventing potential threats
• Ability to providing appropriate responses to potential threats
• Ability to appropriately recover in the occurrence of a security incident

To accomplish these objectives, the training curriculum provides courses for port first responders, port security guards, security officers, facility security officers, port police officer, and training coordinators. Due to the complex skills associated with these occupations, the training focuses on individual as well as team training. It is also concerned with the transfer of learned skills to the job environment. This three-dimensional construct is used throughout the curriculum as follows:

• At the individual level, training will be delivered anytime, anyplace using online technologies including the Internet and Personal Digital Assistants. The principal purpose in this level is to build foundational knowledge and individual skills development. Information, practice, and feedback are all provided online. This dimension is preparatory for the team level.

• At the team level, training will be delivered either online or face-to-face (f2f). The principal purpose of this dimension is to apply prior knowledge and experience in a simulated environment where port security teams can interact safely. Critical to this level is deliberate practice including the use of performance simulation and peer and instructor feedback. This dimension is preparatory for the job level.

• At the job level, training is comprised of performance tasks that can be assessed individually and/or by a mentor. The principal purpose of this dimension is to assure training transfer to the performance setting. It is apparent that complex cognitive skills get refined over longer periods of time as one engages in deliberate practice. In this project, learners are taught the skills that they need, then they continue to practice and refine their skills on the job, and with the aid of assessment tools.

The Design and Development Approach
CNSTAR approach draws from the literature of training and instruction of the past decades. The design and development of the project are guided by Gagné’s (1985) events of instruction, the Analysis, Design, Development, Implementation, and Evaluation (ADDIE, Dick & Carey, 1990), Sweller’s (2004) Cognitive Load Theory (CLT), Keller’s (1979) ARCS Model of Motivation, and the Four Component/ Instructional Design (4C/ID) Model (van Merriënboer, 1997). The curriculum is implemented and evaluated according to the principles of Human Performance Technology (HPT) which targets the improvement of the organizational performance through improving the performance of the workforce.

The Guided Experiential Learning (GEL) Model