Warfighter’s Edge (WEdge)
is a briefing room system built for operational flying units to enhance
situational awareness before their missions. The program enhances
mission briefings by bringing real-time information to the warfighter
that is accurate and easy to manage. The system accesses a multitude of
net centric data sources and then displays this data in a pilot-friendly
format dramatically reducing the time spent manually retrieving,
verifying, and organizing mission information.
WEdge uses data-tags on PowerPoint slides to
display dynamically retrieved information to users. The information is
transferred electronically from machine to machine and provides aircrew
insight into information never before available in the briefing room.
For example, a user desiring information from Patriot Excalibur (PEX)
simply places a PEX data-tag on the appropriate slide. When WEdge runs
this show, the program retrieves the desired information (such as
aircrew currency, aircraft status, weapons loads, etc) and fills in the
tag. Most users find WEdge easy to use because it leverages their
existing knowledge of a familiar Microsoft tool.
WEdge
Version 1.0 is fully certified and accredited and is being deployed Air
Force wide. This version retrieves information from PEX, weather, and
FLIP, but the interfaces for many other sources of data are being
developed. In
the near future WEdge will provide visibility into route data from JMPS
and PFPS. This functionality will allow users to view mission routes
and the routes of other package assets in a Google Earth environment
providing extraordinary situational awareness and sortie deconfliction.
WEdge is an enterprise-level solution. That
is, all users of WEdge are connected via a top tier server. This
architecture allows different units to share information, automatically
receive updates, and download data with ease. Preparation for deployed
operations can now be accomplished by simply downloading the desired
modules from this central server.
WEdge
is being developed by experienced warfighters who have specific
knowledge dealing with mission briefings. The WEdge Team uses an agile
development process that allows feedback from deployed aircrew to be
implemented within months versus years. For more information about
WEdge, please visit
www.wedge.hpc.mil.
The Geospatial Technical Center (GTC) is a
focal point for the integration of geospatial technologies to meet the
evolving needs of the Department of Defense. The GTC finds low cost
solutions through advancing existing technologies, research &
development, testing & evaluation, and education & training. The
mission of the Geospatial Technology Center is to advance, test,
evaluate, research, and integrate geospatial technology solutions for
the Department of Defense (DoD). The Center collaborates with the Air
Force Installation Mapping and Visualization Council, Air Force Major
Commands, the Air Force Electronic Systems Center, the Defense
Information Systems Agency (DISA), the National Guard Bureau and
National Laboratories to locate or develop geospatial technologies. The
GTC is in a unique position to conduct technology advancement, research
on new and existing applications, and development geospatial
technologies. The GTC can draw from the operational and intellectual
expertise of the USAF Academy faculty. The Center is also located near
AFSPC and NORTHCOM, and works with several offices at the command. The
proximity to these commands strategically locates the GTC among the best
ideas that the military industrial complex has for the application of
geospatial technologies to improve force protection and homeland
security. There is great synergy in Colorado Springs for geospatial
advancement of existing and new technologies.
MISSION
STATEMENT: The mission of the Center for Research on Learning and
Teaching (CRLT) is to conduct research on learning and teaching that can
eventually contribute both to significant improvements and to
transformations in education and in teaching.
This
research cuts across fields such as mathematics, computer science,
engineering education, network communications, social dynamics,
information technology, artificial intelligence, and curriculum
innovation. CRLT’s
current and future research involves each of four principles and each of
four grand challenges.
Four
Principles of Learning Environments of the Future
Increased sightlines in the classroom:
A greater ability for
everyone in a classroom, teachers and students alike, to see usable
representations of conceptual models used by others in the classroom
Increased emphasis on modeling:
A greater stress on systems
of ideas and relationships both in how learning “tasks” are structured
and in how assessment is effected
Increased
connectedness:
Individuals more meaningfully connected in the learning experience to
each other and to those outside of the classroom
Increased
individualization:
A
greater sense of customization and personalization for each learner
under the management of a teacher, emulating a one-to-one tutoring
experience
Four Grand
Challenges for Learning Environments of the Future
Break-out role influencing society’s innovative
tools and thinking about collaboration. The research frontier:
Deploying communication technologies in ways that build
substantial, authentic bridges of collaboration rather than
polarization.
Ultra-deep model collaboration: sharing the human experience.
Collaboration research is at the center of helping individuals
assimilate, share, and co-create complex knowledge models. The
research frontier: assimilation, sharing, and co-creating models
that integrate cognition more fully with broader dimensions of
human experience such as affect, motivation, intuition, and
identity.
Agility in learning through the life cycle. The life cycle is
lengthening and changing. Work, play, and society demand
continual expansion of individual competencies and multiple
novice-to-expert transitions. The research frontier: Agile
learning through the life cycle.
Unlocking group dynamics in the science of collaboration. Work
during the past thirty years has enabled greater understanding
of individual conditions that produce optimal and immersive
performance in challenging settings, often called the zone
or flow. The research frontier: Discovering conditions
that permit zone or flow conditions for collaborative teams.
Projects:
Agent and Library Augmented
Shared Knowledge Areas (ALASKA)
Complex Reasoning
Distributed Learning and Collaboration (DLAC)
Just in Time Teaching (JiTT)
Learner Engagement
Pedagogical Toolkits
Models and Modeling
Formal
CRLT Research Partners:
Pepperdine University, Malibu, California
The University of Colorado at Boulder, Colorado
Smart Technologies, Inc., Calgary, Alberta, Canada
SRI International, Menlo Park, California
Knowledge Media Research Centre, Tubingen Germany
Shanghai Jiao Tong University, China
Learning Sciences Laboratory, Singapore; Institute of Education,
University of London, England; Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing,
China
