3.5
Use of a business process model as a teaching tool in an undergraduate weather forecasting course
John M. Lanicci, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical Univ., Daytona Beach, FL
This paper summarizes a new approach to teaching a senior-level meteorology course at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University (ERAU), entitled Forecasting Techniques. The approach departs from more traditional practices of looking at forecasting as a purely scientific process by introducing a business process model to serve as an organizing concept for the course. The motivation for taking a new approach to teaching this course results from the realization that modern weather forecasting has become a process that is too complex to study from only the scientific perspective. The author researched several U.S.undergraduate programs and noted that forecasting topics are no longer covered in a single course from a technical perspective, but now appear in a variety of courses with various formats, including current weather discussions (some held with National Weather Service forecasters in places where they are collocated), forecasting labs and practicums, and traditional lecture courses with exercises. Additionally, the author's experiences with a similar process model used to describe U.S. Air Force weather operations provided a useful analytical tool for determining which portions of the weather forecasting process needed to be updated due to changes in user requirements, world events, and information technology. In the classroom, the model was employed with the following educational purposes in mind: 1) To present weather forecasting as an orderly, organized process in order to help students focus the application of their knowledge obtained in previous meteorology courses; 2) To allow the subject of weather forecasting to be examined from the points of view of both a science problem as well as a business problem; 3) To introduce the students to the use of business process models, which will be helpful to them in their professional careers; 4) To present the students with a useful organizing concept within which to integrate the lectures, assignments, and practicums that are used throughout the course. The business model used in the 2006-2007 academic year was introduced in two parts. First, we studied the forecast process from the traditional scientific point of view, using the top part of the process flow diagram in Figure 1. This portion of the course employed traditional lectures covering each phase of the forecast process, such as meteorological collection platforms and how they are evolving, the importance of data assimilation in operational numerical analysis and forecast systems, and characteristics of numerical models run at the National Centers for Environmental Prediction. The product tailoring/integration phase actually began with a discussion of numerical model post-processing (including an introduction to model output statistics) before moving into product tailoring for different user communities. A set of city-pair forecast exercises allows the students to apply the knowledge gained during this segment before moving on to the more complicated portion of the course. At this point, we introduced a second component to the business model that underpins the process flow diagram covered previously. This foundational component examines the relationship between the provider of meteorological information and the user of that information. Within the Provider-User relationship, we explore concepts such as the provider's knowledge of meteorology and the user's operation, to include weather/climate impacts on the latter. From the user's perspective, we examine his knowledge of meteorology, how weather/climate impacts his operations, and his understanding of the provider's capabilities. This foundational knowledge is then linked back to the process flow diagram to study how different types of users (e.g., general public, business, the military) employ tailored weather forecast products and integrate them into their decision-making processes. The exercises introduced here give the students, now working in teams, experience in preparing different types of forecasts, varying from synoptic-scale products similar to those of the Hydrometeorological Prediction Center, to local forecasts for a hypothetical weather-sensitive customer. The capstone for this portion of the course is a visit to the 45th Weather Squadron at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station to get a first-hand look at weather operations there, and how their tailored weather decision guidance is integrated into the decision-making process for space launches. The business process model also allows us to project future weather forecasting changes driven by new user requirements and technology. An illustrative application is taken from aviation weather forecasting, where changes in the National Airspace System are driving the use of real-time weather in the cockpit (RTWIC) by aircrews. The business model must now be adapted to describe the use of new, sophisticated dissemination technology for updating current weather products, which will be used as real-time decision guidance by aircrews already in flight. Such technological advances will likely require signification modifications to the Product Tailoring and Integration sections of the process model.
Session 3, Technology and Teaching Tools in the University Classroom
Tuesday, 22 January 2008, 8:30 AM-9:45 AM, 209
Previous paper
Extended Abstract (188K)
Recorded presentation