AWOC Student Information

Introduction

The Advanced Warning Operations Course (AWOC) is a blended learning course designed to provide every NWS Forecaster (Meteorologist and Hydrologist) training on advanced warning decision making techniques. Students must have completed either the Distance Learning Operations Course (DLOC) or the WSR-88D Operations Course (in residence) in order to enroll in AWOC.

Method Of Operations

The Facilitator

AWOC will be managed in the local office by the AWOC Facilitator. This could be your SOO/DOH, Training Officer, or their designee. The facilitator provides local assistance, support and guidance to the student. Typical facilitator duties include monitoring student progress throughout the course and administering WES simulations. Facilitators are also the ones who usually sign there staff up for teletraining sessions (IC Core 3, Lesson 3; IC Severe 4). If you need help signing up for teletraining, please see your local facilitator.

Students access course materials, track their progress, and take exams using the Learning Management System LMS. The LMS is the "NWS Learning Center" system that has been available to most or all NWS employees over the past year. New functionality has been added to the LMS to allow handling of NWS developed training.

Information on how to use the LMS is available on the LMS Information Page. You can view the LMS using the link under "Other Navigation" on the left menu of this page.

Course Content Overview

AWOC is large. But don't let that scare you. The Course Description page provides a panoramic overview of AWOC. To summarize, AWOC consists of an Introduction, a Core Track with 5 Instructional Components (ICs), and a Severe Track with 5 ICs. Being a blended learning course, there are various delivery methods for the training material. Most are online modules that you can take from any Internet capable PC. There are two teletraining sessions, one per Track. IC Severe 5 consists of two WES simulations, that you will take at your office.

Most of the ICs consist of Lessons within them. For a detailed description of the ICs, go to the Course Description page and click on the "Detail" link for each IC.

Student Responsibilities

1. The first thing to remember is to keep your Facilitator informed of your progress and any problems, difficulties, or impediments to your AWOC training.
2. Set deadlines and milestones for yourself. This will help you make continual progress through AWOC. Use the AWOC Progress Checklist (available soon) to assist you.
3. Track your training. Use the NWS Learning Management System (LMS) to track your training.
4. Communicate! Let your facilitator know when you have problems or questions. (This is a repeat of the first item because it's important to success.) Your facilitator is the first line of defense to get help with AWOC. You and/or your facilitator can also contact WDTB for help. (See AWOC Help Central.)

Questions and Support

The first resource for AWOC students is the local facilitator. The local facilitator is typically your SOO/DOH, Training Officer, or their designate. WDTB is working hard to keep a strong partnership active with the local Facilitators in order to provide AWOC students with the most accurate and current information. Usually, the local facilitator will be able to answer your question quicker than any other resource.

If you facilitator cannot answer your question, please feel free to contact WDTB. You can visit AWOC Help Central for topic specific email addresses. Messages sent to these addresses are received by the WDTB instructors responsible for that specific topic. Also, we have assembled a listing of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ). The FAQ is available via the menu on the left of any AWOC web page, or at AWOC Help Central.