Making HPCC resources a major universal resource for the Nation's education, training, and learning systems for people of all ages, abilities, and locations, is a critical goal of the National Information Infrastructure. It is well known that the most effective learning takes place at the "application" level - that is, "learning by doing. " The National Information Infrastructure will make available a wide variety of simulation-based education and training services that can be accessed through home or industry telecommunication systems. These simulation-based training systems will be tailored to a specific domain and will allow a student to live in that domain. The system will present a variety of skill-based and cognitive-based problems, provide coaching and remedial instruction, and tailor follow-on assignments to address student weaknesses. Fundamental to this vision are authoring tools, digital libraries, associate systems, and the ability to collaborate across space and time.
Consider the concept of a National Virtual Laboratory (NVL), concentrating on university research to enable geographically distributed researchers to share experimental results, collaborate on team research projects, and share coursework. It is envisioned that integrated research teams will share ideas, software, and students - that is, students at many locations may receive credit for NVL-based courses.