Integrated sensor training professional development series: A New Teletraining Approach

The National Weather Service (NWS) in collaboration with the Cooperative Program for Operational Meteorology, Education and Training (COMET®) has established a set of professional development series (PDS) that define various training tracks for operational weather forecasters. One of the PDS programs is dedicated to Integrated Sensor Training (IST). The IST PDS represents a concerted effort by the NWS to bring together diverse training activities that have traditionally focused on individual sensors such as radar and satellite. The IST PDS is supported by staff from the Cooperative Institute for Research in the Atmosphere (CIRA) and the Cooperative Institute for Meteorological Satellite Studies (CIMSS) and the NWS training centers. Information on the IST PDS and other PDSs can be accessed via the Web at meted.ucar.edu.

To support the changing training needs of the operational forecasters, the IST PDS program is developing a series of instructional components that utilize various tools. Training sessions are developed using both remote Web-based and remote-or-local teletraining approaches. The use of strictly remote training sessions runs into a major limitation at most weather offices: limited network bandwidth. This limitation is especially serious when loading large animation files. To address this limitation, an interactive training tool called VISITview was developed through the IST PDS program in collaboration with CIMMS and CIRA. The key aspect of the VISITview teletraining sessions is that they can be run either locally or remotely; that is, the datasets are preloaded in advance of the session. The dataset preloading avoids the delays caused by limited bandwidth when loading files over the Web. In addition, the sessions can be controlled either locally or remotely; thus, they are suitable for both distance- and on-site-learning applications. The VISITview tool provides the instructor with a complete set of drawing and animation tools including image combination, enhancements, fading and multiple panel displays. Several of the VISITview functions were developed to emulate selected AWIPS functions. A VISITview teletraining lesson will be shown at the conference to display the various animation functions available to the instructors and the students during the teletraining sessions.

The strength in the Web and VISITView teletraining instructional approach is the flexibility to add and delete various components using a mix of technology. According to Moore and Kearsley (1996) "...technologies are changing at a rate probably faster than ever in history, and it seems that in the next year or two these are likely to have a major impact on the popularity and cost-effectiveness of distance education (Perelman, 1992)". From what is transpiring in the National Weather Service's training program, the rapid changes made possible by this teletraining approach already are impacting the professional development programs.