Space Age Training
In the increasingly competitive global environment of the
1990s, a vital asset for any company is a skilled and efficient
workforce. Entry level training and regular upgrading for experienced
employees has become as important to a company's future as its
end product.
Teledyne Brown Engineering (TBE), Huntsville, Alabama has
introduced to the commercial market an innovative training aid
designed to ease industry's instructional task. The company has
developed a computer-based system for industrial process training
that, says TBE, offers "significant improvements in effectiveness,
standardization and quality, as well as cost reduction in comparison
with the usual classroom and on-the-job training approaches."
Known as the Interactive Multimedia Training (IMT) system, the
commercial package is an offshoot of a system developed by TBE,
under Marshall Space Flight Center management, to train astronauts
and space operations personnel in the on-orbit operation of scientific
experiments.
Kathie Barnett of PPG Industries undergoes on-the-job training
with the help of a new Interactive Multimedia Training system.
Developed by Teledyne Brown Engineering, the system is a commercial
derivative of a training system used in Space Shuttle science
operations.
The experiments involved growing crystals as part of the USML-2
(U.S. Microgravity Laboratory) mission on Space Shuttle flight
STS-73, which was launched on October 20, 1995. Carried within
a pressurized Spacelab module that enables astronauts to work
in a shirtsleeve environment, USML-2 embraced a wide-ranging
array of crew-tended investigations of the behavior of crystals,
fluids and other materials in the near-zero-gravity conditions
of low Earth orbit.
The crew used a Teledyne Brown advanced, high temperature
furnace for growing electro-optical and protein crystals. Space-grown
crystals are larger and more uniform than crystals grown in Earth's
gravity, and observation of these crystals during orbital flight
offers scientists an opportunity to gain a better understanding
of the crystals' molecular structures, research that can pave
the way to a broad variety of practical applications. TBE's contract
with Marshall Space Flight Center called for training the crew
of STS-73, along with ground-based space operations technicians
and investigators of crystal growth processes, in the complexities
of the furnace's hardware and software and the scientific/operational
procedures involved in crystal growth research.
Spacelab training normally requires sending trainees to special
facilities where they use manuals, briefings and simulation to
learn how to operate Space Shuttle in-flight experiments. It
takes two years to prepare and conduct a training program, and
it requires the participation of trainees and instructors at
widespread facilities around the world.
Looking at rising trainee travel costs at a time of lower
space funding, together with accelerated Shuttle schedules and
reduced training time, NASA and TBE decided they had to find
a better way to train space operations teams.
They found the better way in IMT, a system whose development
is based on TBE's proven training philosophy that "people
learn faster and retain more by participating actively in the
learning experience." IMT presents information in a way
that engages all the senses, using text, video, animation, voice,
sounds and music. It allows learners to direct their own learning,
at their own pace; they can repeat portions of the training program
as many times as necessary to achieve complete understanding.
Advanced types of simulations put learners in role-playing scenarios
where they must react or interact as they would on the job; software
driven simulations provide hands-on training, enabling learners
to practice in a controlled environment with realistic feedback.
Among the advantages of multimedia training cited by TBE are
its capability for simple explanation of difficult concepts;
increased trainee comprehension and shorter learning time; standardized
course quality and content, not dependent on the knowledge and
skills of the individual instructor; and reduced or eliminated
travel time and expense.
The USML-2 flight served as a test bed for evaluating the
IMT approach; it turned out to be a highly successful "proof
of concept" that established the value of multimedia training
as an effective instructional tool. It prompted TBE to bring
the system to the commercial market and offer industry a packaged
course, customized to a particular industrial activity, for qualifying
new hires and recertifying experienced workers.
The initial customer for the commercial course was another
major aerospace firm, also located in Huntsville-PPG Industries
Aircraft Products, the world's largest supplier of aircraft transparencies.
TBE customized a program to meet the needs of PPG's high tech,
job shop, production environment; it provides an overview that
explains how the new worker's job fits into the company's overall
production, emphasizes proper use of safety equipment, and describes
a variety of problems that might be encountered in manufacturing
PPG products and the proper way of correcting them. In addition,
the software provides automated testing and feedback for operator
certification.
PPG found that the interactive multimedia approach is a more
effective training medium than prior methods, that new hires
benefit substantially from the opportunity to study at their
own pace, and that the program is easily modified to accommodate
new equipment or improved production processes.
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