L-3 DPA originally developed WISE Assessment and Technology to provide student monitoring and feedback for LCHS. We then extended the technology so that it can provide similar capabilities with any realtime simulation or control system, allowing WISE Assessment and Technology software to be purchased by third parties for inclusion in their own systems.

WISE technology is based on a specialized expert system [a form of artificial intelligence] that monitors the activity of the student or operator and the system they are operating. The knowledge database that the expert system uses comprises a large collection of rules entered by subject-matter experts and that are then combined to define specific patterns of activity or results. The data gathered while the operation or exercise is in progress is then used to provide these kinds of information, depending on the mode of operation:

• Feedback directly to the operator
• Highlighting errors or inappropriate actions
• Advice regarding activities that have been or should be undertaken
• Highlighting of likely consequences of actions implemented when results fall outside the expected norms
• Access to support material that allows the operator to identify the cause of errors or reason why feedback has been displayed and then rectify the situation accordingly

In addition, further information can be supplied to the instructor:

• Full details of activity by individual students or groups
• Summary of key activity by individual students or groups
• Automatic evaluation of the performance or competence of the student or group’s performance with results provided

L-3 DPA developed the WISE technology especially for monitoring and feedback. It gives you these benefits compared to traditional monitoring systems based on the principals of expert systems:

• Allows direct input of rules by subject-matter expert
• Can be created much more quickly and minimizes the number of errors because it removes the need for an intermediary
• Significantly reduces the number of rules required to produce the same level of detail in the knowledge database
• Uses precompiled rules that define the structure of the system being monitored; the rules don’t have to be included in the knowledge database, so inference requirements are reduced and the speed of evaluation is increased
• Allows rules to be set up to monitor complex situations and predict the outcomes

WISE technology monitors student activities using the simulator or control system and provides feedback just as an instructor or supervisor would. Its main advantages are that it:

• Allows high-level simulator training when suitable instructors aren’t available
• Allows students to learn by doing and to learn at their own pace with the reassurance that a virtual instructor will guide them
• Provides a full report on student activity for later examination by an instructor
• Includes detailed basic level course material for each vessel type: cargo operations manual, guidance on how tasks should be conducted and detailed reference library providing all required underpinning knowledge to allow student to learn and progress.

The Automatic Competence Assessment System uses the information collected by the WISE system to provide an immediate assessment of the competence of the student on a particular task. The main advantages of the Automatic Competence Assessment System are:

• Has a simple interface so the instructor can easily input assessment criteria
• Assigns scores automatically, minimizing the level of effort required by the instructor to define an assessment and removing the subjectivity of individual instructors
• Provides a graphical representation of how the operator is performing throughout the task so that the Instructor can identify both which activities are causing the student problems and which specific assessment criteria those activities are related to at any point during the scenario
• Provides results of the assessment in real time throughout an exercise in a graphical display, a log, and by indicators
• Allows assessments to be conducted on multiple areas of knowledge within an operation and provides overall assessments combining the results of all the underlying tasks at the same time
• Produces a detailed assessment report for each student that is available immediately after the assessment is completed
• Takes into full account the student’s efforts in trying to reach a successful outcome—an error early in a task, for example, is mitigated by subsequent steps that correct the error
• Includes assessment databases for common training standards (SIGTTO, INTERTANKO) that let verified assessments be conducted immediately after the software is installed, removing the need for extensive effort from the instructor