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 The Aloha Alelo Quarterly Newsletter - March 2011 |
In this issue:
Archived newsletters: Dear Friends,
We wish you the best in 2011 and thank you for your continued interest and support. Sincerely, OLCTS Suite Arrives at Camp Pendleton & 29 Palms Alelo kicked off the New Year with installations of the new Operational Language and Culture Training System (OLCTS) at Camp Pendleton's I-MEF Battle Simulation Center and the USMC Advisor Training Group (ATG) at 29 Palms. OLCTS is the next generation of Alelo's widely-known Tactical Language Training software. OLCTS features a number of improvements, including customized Course of Instruction (COI) capability, access to multiple language courses through a single program, and advanced score tracking. These improvements were designed to enable training supervisors to better manage and assess individual and group performance. U.S. military members can access the OLCTS suite in military training labs and online for individual use by registering for an account on Alelo's DoD Support website at http://dodsupport.alelo.com. U.S. Government employees with a .gov email address may also access OLCTS by registering for an account at http://govsupport.alelo.com.
Alelo Training Coming to Your Favorite Apple Device Op L&C App in iTunes Op L&C debuted in the iTunes App Store in December 2010. Designed for U.S. Government users, Op L&C is a learning portal to Alelo's award-winning training in the cultures and languages of Afghanistan and the Northern African region. Lessons cover numerous topics including introductions, rapport building, directions, checkpoint security, and team training. Instructional content, interactive exercises, quizzes, and review mode all aid learner progress through the learning lifecycle anytime, anywhere. Op L&C is compatible with the iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. Alelo Down Under ADF Indonesian Contract Award The Australian Defence Force (ADF) has contracted Alelo to develop a localized version of the Indonesian language and culture program currently in use by the U.S. Military. Content will be adapted for Australian users. This contract augments the existing licensing agreement between Alelo and the Australian Defence Force to include broader access to Indonesian on the latest version of Alelo's desktop platform, compatible with Windows XP, Vista, and 7. The Alelo Language and Culture Training System for ADF is available to ADF personnel and employees of the Commonwealth of Australia. These users may register for access to the courses on Alelo's ADF Support website at http://adfsupport.alelo.com
Alelo Training at the Royal Military Academy Alelo is proud to announce the delivery of Op Dari and Op Pashto training apps on iPhones to the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst (RMAS). The use of Op Dari and Op Pashto at Sandhurst will provide mobile training in Afghan culture and the Dari and Pashto languages to all British Army officers being trained for leadership responsibilities. Op Dari and Op Pashto are also used by British Army trainers in Afghanistan. Alelo is excited to be supporting the development of the RMAS handheld training capability.
New Projects Alelo “Does” - Development of Android Apps With the overwhelming success of Alelo's apps for Apple's iOS platform, Alelo is now exploring the Android universe. With a grant from DARPA's Transformative Apps program, Alelo has launched the development effort to deliver their award-winning language and culture training on Google's Android OS. Alelo expects to complete the first prototype mid-2011. VCAT News South America Slated as Next VCAT Course
With an award from U.S. Joint Forces Command (USJFCOM) through Northrop Grumman, Alelo will develop a course to train warfighters in the language and cultures relevant to deployment in the Andean Ridge (Venezuela, Columbia, Peru, Ecuador, and Bolivia) and Southern Cone (Chile, Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay, and Argentina). VCAT SAM will feature five missions: Civil Affairs, Medical Readiness Training Exercises, Humanitarian Assistance/Disaster Relief, Counter-Insurgency, and Theater Security Cooperation. It will also include the DLI's basic language guides for Colombian Spanish and Brazilian Portuguese. Current VCAT courses, including VCAT Horn of Africa, VCAT Northern Africa, and VCAT Afghanistan, are available through JKDDC's Joint Knowledge at http://jko.jfcom.mil. Research Results “Quoting Dr. Johnson”: Alelo CEO Research Recognized Blazing trails in the development of immersive learning pedagogy and technologies, Alelo's research has attracted the attention of several publications, including the Asian Defense Journal (ADJ). ADJ's current issue features an exclusive interview with Dr. Johnson, Alelo's CEO and Chief Scientist. The interview discusses Alelo's impact on the training and simulation world, and recognizes the company as a leader in the development of foreign language and culture training. Dr. Johnson and his co-authors were also recognized with the International Journal of Human-Computer Studies' (IAED) 2010 Most Cited Paper Award for their article entitled, "The Politeness Effect: Pedagogical Agents and Learning Outcomes." This distinction is awarded to the IAED journal articles with the greatest number of citations for articles published between 2008 and 2010. In addition to this outstanding distinction, Dr. Johnson's article "Serious Use of a Serious Game for Learning" was published in the International Journal of Artificial Intelligence in Education in November. We applaud Dr. Johnson for his leading work in creating innovative training approaches. Alelo’s Recent Presentations Alelo Staff attend HSCB Conference Dr. Lewis Johnson, LeeEllen Friedland, Kevin Saunders, and Dr. Alicia Sagae were selected to make presentations at the Human Social Culture Behavior (HSCB) Focus 2011 conference, sponsored by the Office of the Secretary of Defense, in Chantilly, Virginia this February. HSCB Focus 2011 is an annual conference showcasing leading research in the fields of computational social science, and modeling and simulation. Alelo presentations covered a variety of modeling and simulation projects underway at Alelo (slides available upon request). Regarding Alelo's presence at HSCB Focus 2011, Dr. Sagae stated that "Alelo has attended the Focus conferences for three consecutive years, because they give us the opportunity to position ourselves in a fast-growing community we care about. We learn about what other successful performers are doing, listen to our sponsors' ideas, and describe our technology in a way that is meaningful to social scientists and computational modelers, as well as engineers." Alelo in the Media Alelo on CNN CNN covered Alelo's language and culture training programs in the January edition of "The Big I: Ideas, Innovations, Imagination." In an interview with the Executive Director of the USC Stevens Institute for Innovations, Krisztina Holly described Alelo as an exemplary leader in combining innovation and entrepreneurship for the benefit of the economy and job creation.
Alelo has several public events coming up in the near future. Join us at an event near you!
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As the New Year unfolds and we approach spring at Alelo Headquarters, Alelo is excited to be expanding its language and culture training instruction in the U.S. military, and to two of its closest military allies: the UK and Australia. We are proud of the expansion of our dynamic training systems, new releases, projects, research, and publications outlined in this edition of our e-newsletter. Along with our latest developments, we also feature "Alelo in the News" as well as upcoming events at which you might be selected for an exclusive opportunity to participate in a product demonstration and meet the Alelo team. Read on for more details!
Desktop Language Training 
Op Dari & Op Pashto Apps on Handhelds at Sandhurst 
