Hi, I’m a bit late at introducing myself as well, but I’ve been (silently) following the discussions on simulators and it has been interesting so far.
My name is Natalie Werbitski and I am a forecaster at the Canadian Meteorological Aviation Weather-Center. Lately, I’ve also become responsible for Staff Learning and Development at our office. We do use simulators regularly here as one of our learning tools; I think it is quite useful, as many of our forecasters like the “hands-on” type approach to learning.
The types of simulators that we run here can be broken into two broad categories. The first type is a real-time forecasting simulator using live data and operational tools. We use this sort of “operational/live” simulator to prepare forecasters prior to “letting them loose” in forecast operations: we’ll run an extended simulator for new forecasters before introducing them to operations (to help them get spun up with regards to regional weather familiarity, operational tools, and expected deadlines of products); we run shorter “operational/live” simulators for experienced forecasters before cross-training them into new sectors, or after an extended period of absence from forecast operations. The second type of simulator we run is for rare, high-impact events, using canned case studies/data/scenarios (as opposed to real-time, live data). We use this “canned event” simulator every year or so for the purpose of keeping our forecasters up-to-date with the procedures required should a volcanic ash event occur. We’ve also used this type of simulator for training new forecasters in convection.
As for Mark’s question of what I hope to get out of these simulator discussions, I am already gaining new perspective on some of the pros/cons of simulators. I am also interested though in how simulators have been used/are being used in other countries as a tool for training.
Thank you for all the great discussion so far.
Natalie