KEESLER AIR FORCE BASE, Miss. -- The forecast for weather students in Keesler’s 335th Training Squadron is clear, thanks to efforts by their instructors.
The 335th TRS is syncing weather training with Second Air Force and Air Education and Training Command’s lines of effort by incorporating digital tablets into weather training classrooms.
The tablets, equipped to access the agile learning platform Learn To Win, will help the 335th TRS teach joint service officer and enlisted weather courses.
The tablets are an upgrade for students that provide multiple ways for them to engage and absorb information.
“The tablets are something that they can use in class to follow along with the slides. For those learners who are more tactile or who need time to digest the information better, when they go back home, they can utilize the software on their tablets to access presentations that will have a voiceover,” said Capt. Travis Hodos, 335th TRS instructor supervisor.
The tablets also provide students with a deeper look into weather patterns and predictions.
“If we’re looking at the atmosphere, we will look at the surface and then the different levels throughout the atmosphere,” said Hodos. “Before, we would have to display that on a whiteboard, but if we put it on the tablets, we could overlay different charts to look at it in a three-dimensional model, allowing more avenues for learning.”
The tablets are powered through AETC’s learning connectivity project, installing commercial wireless internet across the command and into all training dormitories, supporting sixth-generation learning environments.
“We’re not just helping them pass their tech training, we’re making their lives better. We’re creating a more positive and beneficial learning environment that echoes through the rest of their day, not just when they’re in the schoolhouse,” said Senior Master Sgt. Jason Pierce, 335th TRS weather career field training manager. “If we can help them with a tool like this to grow in their resilience through academic success, that’s a second or third order effect that I think every training environment would love to be able to capture - and I know we will.”