Teletraining Using VISITview

This presentation describes the teletraining approach currently used by the National Weather Service (NWS) that was developed by the Integrated Sensor Training (IST) program. Teletraining is one aspect of distance learning that is being utilized by the NWS to provide cost-effective training to the operational weather forecaster. The NWS established the professional development series (PDS) to better organize the training program. The PDS dedicated to remote sensing is called Integrated Sensor Training (IST) PDS. The IST PDS brings together diverse training activities that have traditionally focused on individual sensors such as radar, satellite, and other observing systems. Information on the IST PDS can be accessed at meted.ucar.edu/ist. The IST PDS provides the framework for the activities of the Virtual Institute for Satellite Integration Training (VISIT). VISIT is comprised of staff from the Cooperative Institute for Meteorological Satellite Studies (CIMSS), the Cooperative Institute for Research in the Atmosphere (CIRA), and the NWS training centers. The VISIT program is supported by the NWS and the National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service.

To support the evolving training needs of the operational forecaster, the IST PDS program is developing a series of instructional components that utilize various training approaches. Training sessions and modules are developed using both remote Web-based and remote-or-local teletraining approaches. The use of only Web-based training sessions runs into a major limitation at most weather offices: limited network bandwidth and latency. This limitation is especially serious when loading large animation files. To address this limitation, an interactive teletraining tool called VISITview was developed by the VISIT team. VISITview is a platform-independent distance learning and collaboration software program. It allows multiple users to view the same series of images, and provides a large number of features, including annotation, color enhancements, zooming, multi-panel displays, etc. The presentation will provide an update on the latest developments of VISITview program, a review of the number and locations of offices participating in teletraining, and include examples from teletraining sessions that use VISITview.