The proposed effort will produce an interactive instructional system that can publish, promote, teach, and inform professionals about the technologies required to deploy Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS). The system uses an interchangeable component architecture that can adapt to the situation of the user based upon the desired learning experience, the computer systems capabilities, and the flexibility of the components involved. This instructional system will simplify the work required to find and publish new information and improve content delivery (presentation). Independent publishers of courseware and content will be able to offer products that plug into this system at runtime to produce a presentation that is integrated with content and components from many sources. The system will be accessible from CD-ROM and over the Internet. It will also offer mechanisms to update components and content over the Internet or from published diskettes. To assure it accommodates user needs and preferences, we will evaluate and refine the system using an Internet-based focus group led by an award-winning instructional design team. We will receive extensive input from organizations involved in ITS technologies, for example the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE), the Research Center for Excellence in ITS, and the big three automotive companies.Anticipated Results/Potential Commercial Applications of Results: The system will simplify the effort required to publish and access technical information in an architecture that can support a one-stop-shop for technical knowledge. The system will be able to receive and index content (documents, instructional information, exercises, etc.) from many sources and coordinate knowledge to support life-long learning. Professional societies, commercial firms, universities, government agencies, and other organizations will be able to publish content into a distributed directory of learning content, indexes based upon the educational framework we develop during this effort.
