Development of CAI courseware and graphics displays has always been, from the user's standpoint, a cumbersome effort, often resulting in wordy, ponderous, text-heavy instructional material. An integrated courseware and graphics package has been developed to support rapid creation and modification of training exercises, including verbal and visual content, and the simulation environment itself. This package allows the user, without having any special software expertise, to create and change both the training scenarios (courseware) and all associated graphic displays. As training requirements and strategies change, and as changes are made to the prime system, the user, a subject matter expert, can make the needed courseware and display updates with no requirement to impact or modify the operational software.

The Display Development System (DDS) allows the user to create graphics displays quickly, using a menu-driven approach. Both textual and graphics data can be displayed. Courseware is written in a simple. High-level trainer Authoring Language (HAL) which gives the user complete control of the DDS produced graphics, and control of the entire training exercise.

This integrated package offers many benefits now being realized on two current trainer development programs. The user of DDS/HAL can quickly make whatever changes are needed to displays and courseware whenever they are needed. Not having to rely on software personnel to make software changes results in significant savings of time and money. Beyond that, since this package is independent of the operational trainer software, the user is given tremendous freedom and flexibility in creating and maintaining displays and courseware. This enables the user to concentrate more fully on courseware, resulting in a more effective presentation of course material.