About Us

Developing sophisticated, coherent, and impactful training is central to a productive and engaged workforce. The process, however, of developing a highly functional, tailored training system is not straightforward. Successful training is not only about great training content but also about organisational values, clearly defined roles and responsibilities, responsive learning management systems, equity of access, well-articulated standards, and assessment process.

We at the Centre for Advanced Training Systems, bring expertise from organizational psychology, neurosicence, physiology, engineering, education, learning and instructional design to work with our partners to optimise their training systems.

Learn more about our team members

Latest News

Is virtual reality (VR) better than 2D training? Four evidence-backed value areas supporting the use of VR as a training modality

Within my role I am involved in creating and validating novel Virtual Reality (VR) training applications and often find myself discussing the use of the technology, including its benefits and value as a training modality. A frequent topic that comes up when speaking...

Fusing technology with tradition – developing new educational resources to increase awareness of cultural burning

Local Land Services NSW has long been passionate about supporting Aboriginal people to care for Country through Aboriginal Elders sharing their traditional land management and ecological knowledge with the younger members of their community. Recently, Hunter Local...

Playing with radiation – a new virtual reality training application rolls out to University of Newcastle physics labs

The Centre for Advanced Training Systems (ATS) has worked closely with A/Prof. Vicki Keast, Prof. Thomas Nann and a team from the School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences along with the University of Newcastle IT Innovation Team, led by Chief Information Officer...

The Problem

Over the past two decades, digital transformation has swept across all industry sectors and is fundamentally changing businesses, institutions and organisations. Both the volume of communication within the workplace and the diversity of professions that work together have dramatically increased. Amplifying these changes has been the speed at which new technologies emerge. The ever-increasing rate with which new technologies are appearing has led to the concept of ‘exponential technology emergence’. Collectively, these conditions are a challenge for all workplaces, which must now find a way to adapt.

A major question that many organisations are now being forced to ask is:

How do we take on new approaches to remain up-to-date, without fundamentally disrupting or compromising our existing practises?

We believe that the answer to this question is relatively simple; it relates to training.

The main challenge now lies in determining what type of training is required in new and highly dynamic environments.

Historically, training was based around three main aspects:

Pre-existing knowledge imparted via vocational or college-based education
Static workplace knowledge transfer approaches (e.g. digital presentations, policy documents and manuals)
Presenter-driven updates (e.g. workshops, conferences)

It is increasingly clear that these training approaches are no longer sufficient to seamlessly respond to ever-changing and evolving conditions. Even a superficial analysis of training approaches indicates that the general model has evolved very little in the last two decades. Current training approaches have limited scalability, are difficult to quality-control and are often poorly suited to training practical workplace skills.

Our Team & Our Role

At the Centre for Advanced Training Systems (ATS), we recognised the need to modernise training approaches. Our focus is on working with organisations to develop, implement and evaluate new training approaches that take advantage of digital platforms, particularly digital simulation platforms.

Importantly, we do not build these platforms in isolation. We work with partners to identify and develop solutions that are aligned with their needs. We integrate established concepts and ideas from research on physiology, psychology and neuroscience to enhance the teaching programs we develop. We also actively engage in research to optimise the development of training tools, document their efficacy and inform implementation strategies. We then engage with organisations to facilitate implementation of training solutions to ensure these resources get into the hands of users to deliver training outcomes. In doing so, we use a scientific approach with structured evaluations and assessment processes to ensure training platforms achieve the desired objectives.

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The Solution

Training can fail staff and fail for organisations for literally dozens of reasons. Common reasons include that the training does not have well defined objectives, the skill transfer process has not been modernised, time pressures have driven minimum standards down, limited feedback quality and impaired assessment sophistication. Some of these issues can be addressed by re-examining training products and processes. However, other elements require broader consideration of how training is structured and managed, how is financially underpinned, how its impact back to the organisation is quantified.

Noting the many potential points of failure, we at the Centre for Advanced Training Systems seek to first to work with our partners to consider where the best points for intervention are and then move to develop a targeted action plan.

TRANSFormative SOLUTIONS

We have developed and delivered dozens on unique training solutions customised to the organsiations training needs. First and foremost in these solutions is clear training objectives, that can be independently verified post-training.

Virtual Reality (XR/VR)

VR is the most commonly used form of digital simulation technology. It provides the most immersive experience and supports interaction within a 3D-simulated environment. VR requires the use of a headset and often incorporates a hand-held device to support interaction.

Desktop TRAINING

From a learners perspective a large amount of conventional desktop training is terrible. Often content is designed to transfer information, and manage liability, rather than impart genuinely useful skills. We work to create engaging and immersive desktop learning experiences for staff.

Historically, these technologies have been used mostly for gaming applications. Research trials of XR-based training technologies indicate that they increase user engagement and improve knowledge transfer, particularly for procedural skills development. This supports the suitability and value of these technologies in education and training.

For new technologies to be effective, they must be seamlessly integrated into the local training ecosystem. To support this, we also develop detailed data capture, analytics and reporting frameworks.

End-to-end Project Management

We deliver trusted, independent and expert advice and end-to-end project management to develop training applications that are sustainable, effective and personalised to your needs.

ATS connects content experts and technology developers with internal research expertise, to support the development of custom training solutions that meet your project’s needs.

We apply scientifically-established concepts and research findings from the fields of physiology, neuroscience and psychology into real world training systems to bridge the evidence-practice gap
We focus on training objectives and outcomes to ensure the final product is suitable and addresses identified needs
We provide or source content expertise, to ensure training content is up-to-date and evidence-based
We coordinate technology experts to ensure the most appropriate approach is used
We provide end-to-end project management to support training programme implementation, assessment and report outcomes
We coordinate research to validate the final training program

Learn more about our team members

The Centre for Advanced Training Systems (ATS) partners with stakeholder organisations to develop customised workforce training solutions to address identified training needs.

Our projects are funded on a project-specific basis and focus on improving workplace training in three main areas; Defence, Health, and Education.

We have partnered with numerous organisations, including the Australian Department of Defence (Army and Air Force) and Hunter New England Area Health, to design, implement and deliver tailored training solutions that address their specific organisational needs.

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ATS sets itself apart by integrating research evidence and data capture into all stages of the development process. This ensures the development of tailored, fit-for-purpose, evidence-based programs that seamlessly integrate into existing training frameworks.

We have been fortunate to collaborate with the following organisations to design, develop, evaluate or provide advice on training

NSW Hunter New England Local Health District

Australian Government Department of Defence

If you are interested in developing a specific training programme in collaboration with the Centre for Advanced Training Systems (ATS), we would like to hear from you. Send us an email or access the Contact Us page to get in touch with our team.

Designing, Developing and Implementing Next Generation Training

Learn About the Centre

The Centre for Advanced Training Systems brings together researchers, educators and technology experts to provide tailored end-to-end project management.

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Learn About Specific Projects

The Centre for Advanced Training Systems (ATS) activities are funded on a project-specific basis and focus on improving workplace training in three main areas: Defence, Health and Education.

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Learn About the Team

Our focus is on working with organisations to develop, implement and evaluate new training approaches that take advantage of digital platforms, particularly digital simulation platforms.

Learn More

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Join our mailing list to receive information on Centre updates and to be involved in testing of new applications.

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Funding: The Centre for Advanced Training Systems (ATS) is based at The University of Newcastle. ATS activities are made possible through project-specific funding, as outlined in the Projects pages.