Training Resource Center

[Michael Hodge Jr 961044]

With the posting by Andrew in the other thread in regards to the IT department, I figured I will take the time to post here to give everyone an idea on where VATUSA is headed in the Training Department, particularly with one of the major projects currently underway: The Training Resource Center.

 

As most of you know, VATUSA, with the new website, has released a new training site known as the Training Resource Center. It has a couple of main goals which i'll list below

 

* Improved Training Material - When Jon Standley came out with the new Basic ATC guide, it was a great! It took the complex aspects of Airspace, Weather, Communications, and broke it down into such a way that allows someone with no aviation experience an easy way to learn the material. This concept is one that is going to be applied to all aspects of the new material. The new material will contain video, audio, and flash to help cater to all of the various learning styles of the VATUSA students.

 

* Improving ARTCC Training Efficiency - The new training material will be structured in a way as to allow ARTCCs to utilize, if they chose, to make their training departments more efficient. The idea is that the Instructor can, as an example, send a student to the S1 Training material to review the sections on Clearance Delivery. In there they will learn about reading SIDs, The CRAFT acronym, issuing clearances. The student will be able to hear audio clips of different clearances. They will understand not only the "how" but the "why" of the procedure. Then they will meet with their instructor and take what they've read and put it into a practical example to help the student peice it all together to make it work. So instead of the instructor teaching the theory + the practical, they will simply have to do a brief review to ensure the student retained the material and then focus solely on the practical. Of course, just as the current training material is optional, the new training material will be the same.

 

* A thorough resource for information - One of the major positives of VATSIM is it allows us as individuals to make of this hobby what we'd like. Some of us prefer to fly and not control. Some prefer to control and not fly. Some like to do both. Some controllers like to be very realistic in regards to procedures, yet others are completely satisfied with learning the minimal amount of knowledge. Both of these philosophies are going to be represented in the new Training Resource Center. For those who want to learn simply the minimum material, then the default training rating sections will cover what they need to p[Mod - Happy Thoughts] the written and practical sections of their exams. For those who want to learn more in depth procedures, there will be "advanced topic" sections which will cover things not required for the rating. This will allow the students to learn as much as they would like. There are still quite a few ARTCCs that rely on the VATUSA Training Material to teach, so the idea is to make that more robust (but NOT complex) and provide the ARTCC with a better source of training material to structure their individual training departments to suit the needs of the ARTCC.

 

* Preventing 'outdated' material - We all know that procedures and rules change over the time. So why should we allow the VATUSA training material to get old and outdated? It shouldn't. With the new Training Resource Center being a tiki-wiki site, it will allow the ability to ensure that the training material is never out of date. The TRC is a project which will never be finished. There will always be room for improvements, and we have the ability now to make those improvements.

 

* Provide instant online help - With the recent implementation of the live help system, a student who reads the material and has a question can easily go and ask one of the members of the help desk support team who can provide clarification and help on a particular subject. The help desk is not staffed 24-7, but it is staffed a large portion of the day.

 

 

If you have any questions, comments, or concerns, please do not hesitate to ask!

 

Sincerely,

[Scott DeWoody]

Michael, it really looks like you have a handle on things there as far as training goes, but that was a given, I was totally impressed with your system when you were on the ARTCC level, keep up the good work, and please don't "burn out".

[Michael Hodge Jr 961044]

The new S1/S2 guides have been placed on the site. A HUGE thanks to Ken Hammond of ZKC, Harold Rutila of ZDV and Charles Rizzi of ZMA for all their hard work in helping me get this material released!