Virtual Focus Group on ITS Training Priorities
An Invitation to Participate

Dear prospective group member,

We are assembling a group of volunteers to establish training priorities for engineers who are involved with intelligent transportation systems. The time commitment will be approximately 4 - 5 hours, spread over 4 - 5 weeks. Communication will be via the Web, thus allowing each group member to participate at his or her convenience. We are looking forward to working with you.

Sincerely,

Organizational Context
This project is a Phase 1 SBIR contract from the U.S. Department of Transportation to the A.J.Boggs & Company (http://www.ajboggs.com). The point of contact at the company is Clarke Anderson (jca@ajboggs.com). A.J. Boggs is active in developing technologies to improve information retrieval on Wide Area Networks, including the Internet. They are currently developing distributed directory service technologies to improve: 1.Resource discovery capabilities; 2.User and vendor registration systems that simplify identification and authentication; 3.Data propagation of indexes to enable referrals from distributed directories; 4.Information cataloging to optimize retrieval from global directories.

The Problem
In order to promote ITS, people with hands-on responsibility for designing transportation systems must understand the possibilities offered by intelligent transportation systems. To this end the U.S. Department of Transportation has invested a considerable amount of time and money in developing a wide variety of books, workshops and CD-ROMS. Despite these efforts transportation system designers lack adequate operational understanding of how to take advantage of the intelligence that they could build into their systems.

Parallel to developments in ITS has been the evolution of multi-media and distance learning. These are powerful learning methods because they combine elements that cannot coexist in traditional learning contexts. They can capture "group memory" while allowing on-demand learning, thus injecting an element of collaboration into settings where users are dispersed both geographically and temporally. Further, the computer power can provide an infinite variety of simulations, visualizations and customized curricula. Despite its appeal, distance learning is inhibited by the high cost of developing multi-media presentations. Considerable research and development is aimed at reducing these costs.

We have formed a team that is working at the intersection of developments in ITS and distance learning (Figure 1). Using ITS as subject matter, we are working on innovative methods to capture content from a variety of sources and incorporate it, as interchangeable components, automatically into a multi-media format.

We have a rare and valuable opportunity to contribute to both ITS and multi-media technology. Success requires picking the right ITS subject matter. To that end we are recruiting a group of ITS experts to advise on training priorities.

Scope of Training Requirements
We envision a training program aimed at entry and mid-level engineers who are charged with either designing highway systems, or the first-level supervisors of such engineers. We presume to be dealing with people who are knowledgeable in their fields, but who lack deep understanding about how the technologies of information sensing, processing and transmission that can be incorporated into their work.

As a basis for discussion the group will begin with the curriculum used during Phase 1 to "prove the concept" for multi-media training in this field. The objectives of deliberations will be to develop the curriculum for Phase 2.

Assume that an four to eight hour multi-media training program could be developed. The object of the training would be to bring about as great an improvement as possible in users' ability to incorporate ITS technology into their highway design work. Because decisions about content are affected by the capacity of the deliver technology, assume the following:

  • The primary information medium will be CD-ROM, but there will also be a Web interface. As a result the training can incorporate information with a short half-life without threat of obsolescence.
  • Also because of the Web access, information can be shared by many users and experts.
  • There is a logic to the curriculum, experts have decided what people need to know and the logical steps needed to convey that knowledge.
  • Despite the training logic, the system is user-configurable, i.e. users have great latitude in using the system to learn information that is specific to their needs.
  • Because of data storage capacity and access to Web-based data bases, a great deal of reference material can be put at users' fingertips.

Given these conditions, the task for the group is to answer two questions:

1- What should the learning priorities be?
2- What kinds of tools (e.g. templates, checklists, spreadsheets, decision trees) would be of greatest value to the system's users?