Just the Facts 3

Posted on Sunday October 18th, 2020 @ 2:17am by Lieutenant Commander T'Pri & Master Chief Petty Officer Charles Payne

1,758 words; about a 9 minute read

Mission: S1-A1-Ep. 1: Spectrophobia
Location: Deck 6- Briefing room 1
Timeline: Current

"There are grounds for cautious optimism that we now be near the end of the search for the ultimate laws of nature."
-Stephen Hawking-

ON:

The Chief of the Boat, Master Chief Charles Ermy Payne entered briefing room 1. He had made sure that there was water available for himself, and the party he was waiting for. This was just an informal inquiry on how ship's operations could improve. And how it can co-ordinate better with other departments, and the Academy contingent on board. It was all approved by the Captain and the Commodore. Payne wanted to get this off the ground as best as he could.

Payne thought it would be best to talk to each department separately. He wanted to discuss ideas on how this could work better on an individual basis. He felt it was the best approach. Payne poured himself a glass of water and waited for his next interview of the day.

With the Poseidon still in dry dock but with the repairs mostly compete, Lt. Commander TPri was summoned before what she thought was an educational board, she was of course punctual. She strode into briefing room one and gave a Vulcan salute.

"I am Lt Commander T'Pri, We come to serve." T'Pri said. How can I be of service to you Master Chief?" T'Pri added.

Payne stood at attention as the Vulcan walked in. Payne saluted his superior officer. "Thank you for coming Ma'am." He said. "Please have a seat." He said motioning to a chair.

T'Pri returned the salute, smoothed her skirt as she sat down. and looked at the Master Chief inquisitively.

Payne sat and looked down at his padd. "Ma'am, I would like to ask you a few questions if I may. This will not take very long. I appreciate your participation. This interview is mainly about how we can improve our ship's efficiency, as well as increase maximum potential with the Academy contingent on board. First of all, may I ask how you feel your department is running, and how you feel you can increase it's efficiency?" Asked Payne.

As you know I am the Chief intelligence officer of the Starship Poseidon. The intelligence departments primary function is the gathering processing and dissemination of intelligence relevant to our mission and to advance situational awareness of of both galactic and local importance so that the Captain can make timely and well informed decisions for whatever events may transpire on any given day. Our department also has the responsibility to train cadets on how to make logical and accurate intelligence assessments. We teach them the processes and techniques and conceptual models:

Direction-Intelligence requirements are determined by a decision maker to meet his/her objectives. In the Federation, requirements can be issued from the Federation council, the President. In Starfleet, a commander uses requirements (sometimes called Essential elements of information (EEIs)) to initiate the intelligence cycle.

Collection-In response to requirements, an intelligence staff develops an intelligence collection plan applying available sources and methods and seeking intelligence from other agencies. Collection includes inputs from several intelligence gathering disciplines, such as SENTINT (sentient intelligence), IMINT (imagery intelligence), MLINT (multitronic intelligence), SUBGINT (Subspace Intelligence), OSINT (open source, or publicly available intelligence), etc.

Processing-Once the collection plan is executed and information arrives, it is processed for exploitation. This involves the translation of raw intelligence materials from a foreign language, evaluation of relevance and reliability, and collation of the raw intelligence in preparation for exploitation.

Analysis-Analysis establishes the significance and implications of processed intelligence, integrates it by combining disparate pieces of information to identify collateral information and patterns, then interprets the significance of any newly developed knowledge.

Dissemination-Finished intelligence products take many forms depending on the needs of the decision maker and reporting requirements. The level of urgency of various types of intelligence is typically established by an intelligence organization or community. For example, an indications and warning (I&W) bulletin would require higher precedence than an annual report.

Feedback-The intelligence cycle is a closed loop; feedback is received from the decision maker and revised requirements issued.

"Generally I teach the 500 to 700 level classes, and my junior officers teach the beginning to intermediate classes." T'Pri stated.

"That is very interesting." said Payne. "But, if I may ask, how you feel your department is running, and how you feel you can increase it's efficiency?"

"An interesting turn of phrase. I feel my department runs adequately to complete its mission. This is the first class of cadets we've had since I reported aboard. I have not received much feedback on our performance other than get promoted. Without that feedback it would be premature to say how we could increase efficiency as we have no baseline yet for comparison, Master Chief." T'Pri replied.

"Fair enough." Said Payne. "And would it be safe to assume that the same could be said about increasing efficiency in your dept.?" Asked Payne.

"Improving efficiency is always a worthy goal. I would welcome you to come into my department for the purposes of qualifying its efficiency and I would be happy to take any recommendations you might have or discover." T'Pri offered.

Payne paused for a second. "The whole point is to get your perspective on how your department runs and how to increase it's efficiency. It's to ask how you would. I'm making a report to give to the Captain. Your recommendations will be noted and passed up. I don't have the power to change anything. But I can report your recommendations to change." Said Payne.

Indeed. I will have the baseline measurements in a few months. Right now I wouldn't change a thing. The department is running smoothly. If improvements need to be made after our initial baseline I will institute them. T'Pri replied.

Payne looked at the Vulcan with a deer in headlights look. He didn't want to say it.....but in the back of his mind he thought, typical Vulcan. "Okay then, what about your department with the Academy, how is that running now?" He asked with a very sight annoyance in his voice.

"Well we've set up the department as if it were part of the academy. I have 15 students a few juniors and mostly seniors who have an interest in the Intelligence sector. However I didn't use the model prescribed in the academy handbook. So far that model has functioned as well as it can. We have no information pods here, so students can only digest the information. This does have benefits as I want my students to think outside of the box.. So Id have to say that for now it works." T'Pri replied.

"That is interesting. tell me more about your method and what you are doing." Said Payne. "Is there any way we can make it better? How can we increase it's efficiency?" He asked. "And getting back to your Department, can you make any recommendations about how you can make interactions with other departments more efficient?"

How does one increase efficiency in education? Logic dictates that High quality and efficiency in higher education will provide a complete and unique educational experience for the student. Enhancing the quality and relevance of education will give confidence to students. Every higher education institute should perform quality checks and grow the entire community.

What is needed?

Higher education is slow to respond to changes in the system and fails to anticipate or shape the career of students using modern learning technologies and delivery models. Sophisticated and innovative learning approaches in higher education will improve quality in the fast-changing education industry. The key ways of achieving this milestone is to harness the transformational benefits of cloud, mobile and digital technologies to enrich teaching and learning, and improve the student’s experience. Here are the five ways of improving the quality and efficiency in higher education:

New technologies to get learners up to speed

Communication is the most important factor in improving the higher education efficiency and productivity. Without communication a student and teacher relationship will be hampered and student will not gain freedom. Easy accessibility to the teachers through discussion forum, chat, messages and social media will equip students to effectively communicate and share information with peers.

Interactive learning and teaching. The next generation educational institutions should incorporate new curriculum design and delivery. Using digital technologies will push the boundaries of education. Teachers and instructors should adapt to the changing needs and make classroom sessions more interactive with easy access to knowledge.

Digital classroom ensure students access the tests & assignments Teachers can upload assignments, tests, quizzes and questionnaire online. Students can access and submit the assignments for review. Teachers can assign grades and give comments to help students improve in some other area. Make available the results with students and parents via instant email notifications and SMS alerts. It gives a lot of confidence to provide interactive digital content.

Going mobile means access to a lot of data from anywhere, anytime. Today’s students are highly tech-savvy. Prepare students for a successful life in the contemporary society with mobile app. Give digital access to news, eBooks, textbooks, magazines, journals, etc. from anywhere on the campus and beyond.

Reporting & Forecasting with charts Educational Institutes can predict student outcomes based on the analysis of historical data and make extra effort in training the student or a class, which this will impact the overall performance of the institution.

Again though I would need to complete my baseline assessment before introducing more techniques like these however I will bring these improvement possibilities to the captains attention as well. T'Pri replied.

"Alrighty then." Said Payne. "Now, future efforts with the Academy. How can we make your department operate more efficient moving forward?" Payne asked almost knowing what he will hear.

"Consistency of operation" T'Pri replied.

"Ok, and anything else?" Asked Chief Payne. "Could you be more specific?"

"By maintaining established parameters, Master Chief. One thing in particular about this course that is especially innovative is that the students themselves get on the job training as analysts. Granted they do the grunt work, but that's what intelligence is. its painstaking attention to detail. You can mention that to the Captain and that I would like it to continue." T'Pri replied.

"Alright, I guess that answers my questions. Thank you Ma'am." He said standing and saluting. But, in the back of his mind thinking that only a Vulcan could really answer his questions and tell him absolutely nothing.


[OFF]

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A Post by"

Master Chief Charles Payne
Chief of the Boat

Lt Commander T'Pri
Chef Intelligence officer

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