Theory-Backed Training as a Necessary Piece to Successful Technology Transition: A Case Study of Remotely Sensed Evapotranspiration and the State of New Mexico

NASA-JPL has partnered with the New Mexico Office of the State Engineer (NMOSE) to transition a satellite data software tool based on evapotranspiration (ET) and evaporative stress index data from JPL to NMOSE. There it will be used for a suite of applications from agriculture to forestry and drought monitoring. A part of the transition is intensive training for NMOSE and partners on how to operate and navigate the system. In the education sphere, informational video content on videoshare platforms like YouTube and TikTok is growing in popularity and intrigue. Examining studies evaluating the performance of educational video platforms and our experience with educational content on those platforms, along with studies into deeper learning processes, we devise a training program for the data software tool for its use in New Mexico. This program will have a multimedia approach, consisting of video content, a discussion forum, and Jupyter notebooks in addition to live instruction. To focus the training content on how specific users will operate the software, we will map and build user personas. This training process will be continuously evaluated in its performance, with the intended implications being the increased ability of New Mexico to manage its water.