The U.S. Air Force Junior Reserve Officer Training Corp (JROTC) staff is upgrading its training program to better leverage the advantages provided by today's emerging technologies. The present system in place at over 600 training sites throughout the country relies on the coordination of several media (i.e., print, videotape, film, and videodisc) elements in the delivery of instruction. The recent emergence of Digital Video Disk (DVD) technology provides the potential to consolidate the various media into a single delivery platform. Of particular significance to the Air Force is standardization of delivery and the portability afforded by this technology.
The development approach capitalizes on the availability of Commercial-off-the Shelf (COTS) hardware and software, and instructional content provided by the Air Force in producing a prototype lesson incorporating the latest advances in bar coding and DVD technology. The prototype system contains a graphic user interface that allows the instructor to display and control the content and flow of instruction, and to record relevant personal notations in support of the instructional content. Updates to the Instructor Guide stored on the system hard drive, will be achieved by delivering changes and updates via the Air Force JROTC "Cyber-Campus" network.
This paper describes the DVD-ROM prototype development effort, identifies DVD-ROM hardware and software requirements, and describes significant technological challenges encountered during development and the methods developed to resolve them.