Why should you use simulators for training? 2

Simulators are widely used for training ….. So I am wondering. Who does already use a simulator for training at home?? Please raise you hand.... If yes, What are you doing with a simulator and who do you train with that??

De Health Service of The Hague had a simulation exercise in which a SARS epidemic had to be handled I picked some examples of simulator training I know of Pilots are trained in a simulator. At the KLM 5 times training and 2 exams in a simulator We had a large simulation exercise where the army had to concur and airport in the Netherlands... of all the parts of our army were working together in this simulation . The Health service The Hague had a simulation exercise

Doctors use simulation people

The Air traffic control and the people of the ground control from our Airport used a simulation exercise to be prepared for snow situations in winter...

Even our train drivers have their own simulator where they train twice a year!

Why don’t WE use simulators more often???? So why do we not use simulator training more often in the Meteorology?? Has anyone got an idea? scary? too expensive? ?????

Why did I start to use a simulator in my training... Why did I start using the simulator in my training... Do you know a serious situation like a kid drowning and everyone is looking but doing nothing to help??? It looks like they are frozen..... That was why we started...... 9

Why? Forecasters’ roles have been changing Automation Rare events Dependency When and how can the forecaster add value? Why? The role of our forecasters have been and are changing. The tendency within the operational meteorology is that more and more forecast are being automated and less forecasters will be on shift 2) For our forecasters this means that they will work more often in weather dependent shifts and spend less time in forecasting office. 3) Luckily real serious situations are luckily very rare and when it happens often there will be a different forecaster on shift. This means a challenge for the forecaster to keep the operational knowledge updated. 4) Also models are getting better, which makes the forecaster more dependent on the model. For the forecaster it is important to know when and how they can add something to the model when they make their forecast for extreme situations. 5) Next to the objective site of serious situations we have a subjective site, like the human factor, psychology in the decision process and the opinion of the outside world, are getting more important. And this is something the forecaster has to learn how to deal with....otherwise it will cause stress... Decision making psychology 10

OUR training programme was NOT effective! AND Then we had a review of a serious event and a forecaster told me that he could not remember where to find an important telephone number of a key organisation and he was not able to log into the system. So our training programme appeared NOT effective! OUR training programme was NOT effective! 11

The way WE solved this problem 12

1) The education phase 2) The training phase 3) The practice phase We realized 1) The education phase 2) The training phase 3) The practice phase At a certain moment a colleague who is specialised in emergency training told me that when you want your people to be fully competent for their task you have 3 phases in learning: 1) The education phase: A phase in which you gain knowledge 2) The training phase: In this phase you make knowledge to skills 3) The practice phase: A phase to secure skills also in situations with a lot of pressure I think this is true and looking back I think we trained our people in the mainly in the education phase. We did some training in the training phase, but totally forgot the practice phase......the phase to secure the skills of the forecaster also in situations with a lot of pressure. 13

And that is why you need simulator training! And that is why you need simulator training in my eyes 14

A very welcome addition to the training process We think it is a very welcome addition to your training process in particular for the training phase and practice phase! 15

Because Excellent for: Determining gaps Training Assessment My idea is that training your people (or at least mine) with a simulator is an excellent way of …….. finding the gaps in the training programmes.......where does it go wrong in ...meteorological background, following procedures or communicating with customers training your people for normal AND extreme situations....because in extreme situations people act differently from what you expect in normal situations...think of a little girl drowning in a pool...how many people are watching and not doing a thing…..That happens in your weather service too if your don’t train your people for extreme situations! last but not least.....I do think training with a simulator is an excellent way to check out whether your people are competent to do their job

We don’t have a simulator and NOW? I already hear many people say...we don’t have a simulator in house and it is too expensive to buy one. This type of training is out of our reach.

The success of your simulator training has nothing to do with the used technique but with the ideas and the philosophy behind it. Don’t worry! Nowadays there are many different serious gaming project...some are even better than others. But technique is also very vulnerable...... I think: The success of your simulator training has nothing to do with the used technique but with the ideas and the philosophy behind it. With a pile of weather maps, a clock or a stopwatch and game leaders well known to your process you built sometimes more effective simulator training with al lot more fun than with expensive serious gaming techniques. For this type of training you are not dependant on a very expensive tools.

High Impact Weather Group Within the EumetCal High Impact Weather Group we have taken the initiative to translate a simple simulator programme I made into English. We are happy to share this tool with you and the rest of the educational world. It is available by EumetCal or with me. When an experienced programmer follows a Flash and ActionScript course.... the programmer will able to adapt the simulator for your own situation. High Impact Weather Group

Curious? You want to know more about training your people with the help of a simulator. Since 1993 The CALMet society has been a forum to share experiences, expectations and new ideas for applying emerging technologies and strategies in Meteorological and Hydrological education en training. This year the CALMet society organises an online conference which started last week and will proceed unit 7 December. 20

The Program This is the program and next to many other very interesting subjects we also have a simulator session which is designed to gather what is already known about the use of simulations from research and our own experience. In the next 7 weeks, we will use a model of “little and often” participation and we hope that with these activities we will learn from each other, help you with your questions and create new ideas and experiences. Looking forward to see you there!

Enrol yourself at: http://training.eumetsat.int/course/view.php?id=174

Questions?

Thank you for your attention! pelkwijk@knmi.nl