AICC FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions)
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  • What is the AICC ?
    The Aviation Industry CBT (Computer-Based Training) Committee is an international association of technology-based training professionals. The AICC develops guidelines for aviation industry in the development, delivery, and evaluation of CBT and related training technologies. The objectives of the AICC are as follows:
    1. Assist airplane operators in development of guidelines which promote the economic and effective implementation of computer-based training (CBT) media.
    2. Develop guidelines to enable interoperability.
    3. Provide an open forum for the discussion of CBT (and other) training technologies.

  • My company is not involved in aviation training so why should I care about the AICC?
    The AICC wants the aviation training community to get the best possible value for its technology-based training dollar. The only way that this is possible is to promote interoperability standards that software vendors can use across multiple industries. With such standards a vendor can sell their products to a broader market for a lower unit cost. AICC recommendations are fairly general to most types of computer based training and, for this reason, are widely used outside of the aviation training industry. If you are concerned about reuse and interoperability of online learning, the AICC is a good group to participate in. The AICC also actively coordinates its efforts with broader learning technology standards organizations like IMS, ADL, ISO SC/36, and IEEE/LTSC (see AICC related activities).
  • How would AICC membership benefit myself or my company?
    If you use, develop, buy, sell, or maintain technology-based training for Aviation-related purposes, the AICC is a very beneficial organization to be a part of. By attending AICC meetings you benefit in the following ways:
    1. Learn the best ways to develop and deploy CBT. (There is a huge amount of CBT development expertise in the AICC to draw upon)
    2. Keep abreast of recent developments in software technologies used for training. (Software Vendors are part of the membership)
    3. Participate in the development of CBT-related guidelines. (This is one way to make CBT vendors better understand your needs and help reduce your costs)
  • Does the AICC make or provide CBT courseware?
    No. Although many AICC members are CBT courseware developers.

  • Who are AICC members ?
    They are an international group of airplane manufacturers, aviation trainers (military, commercial, and civilian), government/regulatory agencies, computer software vendors, and CBT courseware developers.

  • How long has the AICC been around?
    Since 1988. The AICC was formed out of a need for hardware standardization of CBT delivery platforms. The AICC has since branched into several other areas.

  • When and where are the AICC meetings held?
    The AICC meets three times per year. Two meetings are typically held in North America and one in Europe. The meeting locations are determined by the availability of meeting hosts. Typically an AICC member company will serve as a meeting host.

  • What are some of the things that the AICC has done?
    The AICC develops technical guidelines (know as AGR's) and their related specifications. The following are some of things that the AICC has done over the years:
    • 1989 - Common platform guidelines for CBT delivery (AGR-002)
    • 1992 - A DOS-based digital audio guideline (AGR-003) before the advent of window multimedia standards. The guideline enabled end-users to use one audio card for multiple vendors' CBT courseware. Due to the huge amount of CBT legacy courseware, this guideline is still in use.
    • 1993 - A guideline for CMI (LMS) interoperability in 1993. This guideline (AGR-006) resulted in the CMI systems that are able to share data with LAN-based CBT courseware from multiple vendors.
    • 1996 - A navigation icon guideline (AGR-009) to help standardize the student user controls in CBT.
    • 1998 - The CMI (LMS) specifications were updated to include web-based CBT (or WBT). This new web-based guideline is called AGR-010.
    • 1999 - The CMI (LMS) specifications were updated to include a JavaScript API interface. (This the basis of the SCORM runtime environment)
    • 2005 - The Package Exchange Notification Services (PENS) guideline (AGR-011) allows Authoring/Content Management system to seemless integrate publishing with LMS systems.
    • 2005 - Training Development Checklist (AGR-012) describes a check list of AICC guidelines to consider before purchasing or developing CBT/WBT content or systems.

  • What are "AGR's"?
    AGR stands for AICC Guidelines & Recommendations (AGR's). As the name implies, AGR's are technical recommendations. Each AGR makes a technical recommendation in a specific area. For example, AGR-002 is the recommendation for workstation hardware. AGR's are usually brief. If a significant amount of technical detail is described, the AGR will reference one or more AICC White papers or Technical documents. The AICC has 11 AGR's (AGR-002 thru AGR-012). AGR-001 is listing of all AICC AGR's and is not considered an actual recommendation.

  • What does "AICC Compliant" mean?
    The term "AICC Compliant" means that a training product complies with one or more of the 9 AICC Guidelines & Recommendations (AGR's). Since there are 11 different AGR's, "AICC compliance" can mean different things as there are 11 different possibilities to "comply" with. The most common meaning of "AICC compliance" (when associated with CBT courseware or CMI systems) is compliance with the AICC documents AGR-006 (File-based CMI Systems) or AGR-010 (Web-based CMI Systems). These AGRs define the communication between CMI systems and CBT courseware. The AICC has developed formal certification testing procedures for both AGR-006 and AGR-010 and currently offers AGR-006/AGR-010 certification testing for CMI systems and CBT courseware

    (Please note that the use of the term "AICC-compliant" is discouraged by the AICC as it is somewhat confusing and infers that the AICC has in some way endorsed or verified compliance. Officially, the AICC prefers the use of the term "Designed to AICC Guidelines" if the product was self-tested or "AICC Certified" if the product was certified by an AICC-authorized Independent Test Lab)

    <Please see "Understanding AICC "Compliance" for more information>
  • Is there a relationship between the ATA (Airline Transport Association) and AICC?
    Yes. Some AICC participants work in both the ATA and AICC to coordinate training-related activities. The AICC tends focus on interactive training materials while the ATA is more focused on Manuals (Electronic and paper-based).

 

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Last Updated: 12-Jan-2008

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