Tools to assist with HLA pedagogy

The High Level Architecture (HLA) offers a dramatic extension of reuse for distributed simulation components. At the same time the HLA represents a significant training and education challenge if adoption of the architecture is to proceed at an adequate pace. In this context it is appropriate to consider tools and techniques that support effective pedagogy for HLA. This paper describes two innovations that have proved useful in short courses for HLA developers. The first supports scripting of basic HLA interactions so that a significant first encounter with HLA can proceed without the cognitive overhead of program development. The second supports an extended HLA software development training exercise in which groups of students work independently on components of a complete HLA simulation. An exercise of this scope becomes problematic when incomplete and possibly incorrect components are tested against each other. The tool described offers an adaptable test harness of correct components, in various states of completion, against which students can initially test their work.E