Advanced MASTER Pedagogy for electric-power domain (AMPed)

Like many industries, the energy sector is struggling with a loss of expertise as senior workers retire and take a career’s worth of knowledge with them. Today’s grids are highly complex systems that incorporate advanced technologies, data streams, and disparate interdependent systems; experienced operators have grown into these systems over decades of experience, developing competencies needed to recognize faults while maintaining situational awareness of causal relationships and second-order effects in high-stress environments. New operators will not have the benefit of gaining these skills over many years; therefore, the need exists to develop robust training platforms that transfer expert knowledge to new employees to rapidly prepare them for complex decision making and performance under stress. To address this problem, the current submission proposes the development of Advanced MASTER Pedagogy for electric-power domain (AMPed), an eXtended Reality (XR)-blended training solution that aims to train critical decision making and situational awareness skills within complex environments while under high levels of stress and intense workload. AMPed will ensure effective transfer of training, resulting in accelerated progression of expertise and improved performance of grid operators while reducing the cost of training by implementing next-gen methods instead of high-fidelity simulators. The proposed approach will combine elements of augmented (AR), virtual (VR), and mixed realities (MR) into a next-dimension XR- blended training paradigm. The XR-blended approach will provide grid operators with cognitive, affective, and psychomotor exercises to strengthen prioritized skills by training under realistically stressful conditions. Phase I seeks to conceptually design and develop AMPed. Working extensively with DoE stakeholders, representative end users, and commercial stakeholders, the proposed solution will evaluate and select the optimal training medium, within XR, based on the users, environments, and KSAs (Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities) to be trained. Once determined, a rigorous conceptual design process will be executed to ensure high-quality training is designed and developed, ultimately resulting in accelerated expertise progression of prioritized skills and the ability for grid operators to successfully execute these skills under conditions of high workload and stress. Once developed, AMPed will become a training solution that leverages next-generation XR-blended technologies and optimizes learning strategies to augment training for targeted and prioritized skills, resulting in accelerated expertise progression and improved performance of grid operators under conditions of high workload and stress. The demand for energy is increasing across every aspect of life, from learning and healthcare to business and recreation. AMPed will ensure grid operators are prepared to keep our country powered despite enormous workforce shifts. Additional benefits include reduced time to proficiency, increased training effectiveness, and reduced cost associated with training.