Closing the gap between skills training and academic education at a military academy: An integrated instructional design model

Linking skills training and academic education is a formidable challenge in many professional fields. At modern military academies, officer cadets learn military skills and strategic thinking, fostered by skills training and academic education respectively. As an example, we briefly elaborate on these two learning tracks at the Royal Military Academy of the Netherlands Defence Academy. However, skills training and academic education are often implemented in a non-integrated manner. Because officers have to integrate military skills and strategic thinking during actual military operations, it is paramount that officer cadets learn how to integrate these in a meaningful way. Therefore, we designed an innovative integrated instructional design (ID) model that aims to meet the needs of both military training and academic education. We herein describe the six-step design process of the resulting so-called TrEd ID model, based on the Nine events of instruction model and STAR Legacy, linked through the First Principles of Instruction. The TrEd ID model provides common ground to military instructors and civilian academicians at a military academy, encouraging mutual understanding and collaboration. Future research is needed to understand the potential value of the TrEd ID model in bridging the gap between skills training and academic education, and how to optimally prepare officer cadets for their roles.