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By Kyle Mulin
For The Daily Gleaner

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Acron engineering is working to bring learning into the 21st century by creating virtual training programs for a variety of groups, from the soldiers at Canadian Forces Base Gagetown to aid workers in the United Nations.

Enlarge Photo

Ray Bourgeois

soaring to new heights: larry sampson, vice-president of knowledge management for acron, a software company that develops virtual training scenarios along with the national research Council, shows a simulation of a flight deck of an aircraft on his computer.

By taking existing video game engines, and retooling them for education rather than entertainment, Acron is turning fun and games into a hands-on learning tool.

"Our client isn't the military, it's the soldier," said Larry Sampson, Acron's vice-president of knowledge management in Fredericton. "By making them better skilled, we're making them and the people they defend safer."

Sampson said these programs offer soldiers better skills by letting them apply their lessons as they learn them. One of those programs is an immersive simulator, where users wear wrap-around visors to see 3-D representations of the terrain, situations, enemies and allies they would actually encounter out in the field.

"Studies show you only remember a little of what you see, and even less of what you read," Sampson said of the drawbacks of conventional classroom learning. "But your memory retains almost all of what you do. And that higher level of retention is our goal with these simulations."

Acron is also working with Microsoft to build programs for the United Nations that will allow planning and response to simulated disasters. The programs include time lines of the event, maps, and reports on resource availability, to help the agency train for any kind of emergency.

"Experience in recent humanitarian emergencies points to a general pattern of poor coherence among major response actors like government, United Nations, and non-government organizations," said Lawrence Pixa, Microsoft's disaster preparedness senior program manager. "These problems have a significant negative impact on the overall quality of the emergency response."

Sampson agreed that there are too many overlapping jurisdictions during the relief of many disasters, and he said the simulation is designed to organize those aid groups.

"Anything from tsunamis to school shootings need efficient responses," he said. "These programs help determine who the players for aid would be, figure out their points of conflict, and resolve them ahead of time. That way, they can deliver the best possible help when a real disaster occurs."

Sampson said that Acron's methods can be used for training in almost any organization, often by simply making the best use of what is already there. And while many other companies sell the software they modify, he said, Acron's future lies in having engineers that see the big picture, and see how all those pieces fit together.

Forward Thinking is a Thursday feature that explores research and development, as well as new technologies in our community. Send your comments and story ideas to news@dailygleaner.com.