I'm Getting Published (in a Real Book!)

Crompco's Virtual Gas Station

This is kind of neat. I contributed to a chapter on using Virtual Worlds in education.

My co-authors on the chapter are:

David M. Antonacci, Director of Teaching & Learning Technologies
University of Kansas Medical Center; Kansas City, KS USA

Nellie Modaress, Educational Technology Liaison
University of Kansas Medical Center; Kansas City, KS USA

Edward Lee Lamoureux, Associate Professor Department of Interactive Media and Department of Communication
Bradley University; Peoria, IL USA

David Thomas, Manager, Academic Technology
University of Colorado Denver; Denver, CO USA

Here’s the abstract:

User-created virtual worlds are emerging technologies with rapidly growing acceptance in education. Of the various reported educational uses of these virtual worlds, the focus of this chapter is on virtual worlds for constructivist learning activities because this use has application to many real-life courses and has the potential to transform teaching and learning. To assist educators with recognizing and understanding virtual world learning activities, Antonacci & Modaress (2005, 2008) developed the Interaction-Combinations Integration model. However, this model has not been studied in actual virtual-world learning practice. Using a case study method, this chapter: examines the usefulness of this model to organize and describe actual virtual world learning activities, provides additional learning activity examples, and describes what was needed to implement and conduct these learning activities.

And here’s my contribution:

OBJECT-OBJECT INTERACTION CASE: GAS TANK SIMULATION (ALLEN)

As of 2009, Crompco was a 160-person limited liability company (LLC) in Plymouth Meeting, PA, located just outside of Philadelphia. Crompco was founded in the early 1980s, and shortly after, bought by Rusty Carfagno, the current CEO. Since being founded, Crompco has grown to become the largest independent tank testing company in the world, with a service footprint extending from Maine to Florida, and as far west as Ohio and Texas. As of 2009, the company consisted of approximately 30 office employees, and 130 field technicians who typically work in two person crews. Crompco’s clients are the biggest companies in the world, including ExxonMobil, Hess, Sunoco, Shell (Motiva), Lukoil, and many more. Crompco tested approximately 20,000 stations per year in various capacities, from full regulatory compliance testing to company-specific inspection and replacement programs. The fleet of 70 trucks was top-notch, allowing for many parts to be taken on-site for minor repairs, which often avoided the need for an expensive return trip and re-test on faulty equipment. Crompco has been recognized as the tech leader within the sector, leading the way with fully automated field data capture first through iPaq hand-held devices, and now Tablet PCs, as well as innovative work in Second Life. Crompco was the first company to use Second Life for corporate training purposes, in January of 2004.

Ed Kubinsky was Crompco’s Director of Special Projects and led a team consisting of Timothy Allen, Head of Technology; Tracy Richmond, Safety Coordinator; and Chuck Pedano, Vice President. Kubinsky and Richmond trained the new hires in their respective fields of expertise: Richmond on safety and OSHA regulations and Kubinsky on the testing services performed in general. Allen coordinated upgrades for the virtual training system through requests from Kubinsky and Richmond, and he trained them on any new features added to the system.

Rather than training each new recruit on Second Life, which has a fairly high learning curve, the virtual world was projected onto a large screen for viewing, and the Crompco avatar was driven by an expert user, typically Kubinsky or Allen. This training was used for all new field technicians, as it introduced all the basics of gas station layout and Crompco safety requirements. The piping, pump, and pressure systems that lie underneath the asphalt of a tank field are fairly complex, and there are many different configurations to which a gas station can be built (about 15 standard configurations, excluding rare exceptions). Having new field technicians understand the complex systems, potential dangers, and a general knowledge of the mechanical and electronic systems before working in an environment with tens of thousands of gallons of gasoline is absolutely essential. Fortunately, within Second Life, nothing is flammable!

The virtual gas station was the brainchild of Allen, a long-time Second Life resident. In early 2004, Allen started to ask himself how Second Life could be used for purposes other than entertainment and showed the virtual world to Crompco’s Vice President, Chuck Pedano, a tech enthusiast and supporter. Together, they agreed that making a virtual gas station would be useful for quite a few purposes. First and foremost would be training new hires, but as the Second Life adoption rate continues to increase and computer speed improves, plans are to also train station managers and show companies where problems exist on their current stations. In the future, Second Life could provide a central location for nationwide training as well.

The initial project objectives were to show several key systems: the tanks, the lines that take the product from the tanks to the dispensers where gas is pumped, the submersible turbine pumps (STPs), siphon bars, and the full Stage II vapor recovery system. While that may be Greek to anyone outside of the industry, these components are the basic essentials to understanding how to test a station’s components to ensure the station is in environmental compliance.

Prior to training new recruits on Second Life, a white board with dry-erase markers was used. The trainers would draw a bunch of underground tanks, pumps, dispensers, and piping. After about five minutes, the new recruit’s attention and interest was waning. Also, this approach did not really get the point of how gas stations worked across to the new hires. Understanding gas station operation would not “click” in their minds until they saw a station under construction and could see the system under the asphalt.

To enable the new recruits to see the underground system, a Second Life gas station was built in January 2004, rolled out in several weeks. With the click of a mouse, they can see under the asphalt and inside the dispensers. Additionally, color-coding was used to make identification of sub-systems easier. It immediately received quite a bit of attention as one of the first projects using Second Life for a real-life purpose. More importantly, this new, vibrant, engaging form of training has had a measurable impact. In the past, it could be six months before a new recruit got a chance to see a station under construction, and observe the piping, pumps, and tanks that are typically hidden by asphalt. With the new training, they got that chance in their first week. As a result, testers received a much clearer picture of how these entire systems work before going out into the field, and this also helped reduce the overall training period before they were ready to move from apprentice to foreman status.

After the initial development period, educational slide shows were added to the gas station, showing real-life pictures of testing equipment, how tests are performed, and safety regulations. These slide shows allow a true multimedia review of the materials being learned. Second Life has been a great platform for their corporate training needs. They considered this project to be a success, and they counted all the media attention they have received as a nice bonus. Additionally, the lessons learned developing and using the gas tank simulation can be applied to many fields: architecture, HVAC, planning of public spaces, and many more.