NOAA/National Weather Service's Warning Decision Training BranchUnited States Department of Commerce
Commerce Learning Center

Radar & Applications Course News

The Radar & Applications Course has begun offering courses that start at multiple times during the fiscal year to better accommodate new NWS employees. If you have a newly hired forecaster in your forecast office who you want to sign up for the next available RAC, please contact Robert Prentice's e-mail address.

Training Events Planning Calendar
Residence/Virtual Courses
Web-Based Training Release Dates

Warning Decision Training Division

Office of Chief Learning Officer

 

RAC Webinar Schedule

Participants in RAC must attend four webinars with a fifth optional webinar (Orientation Q&A) available to them. The schedules for the four mandatory webinars are sent to participants once they are signed up for a class. Participants sign up for webinar through the CLC, but a secondary step of signing up through GotoWebinar is also required. For the optional webinar (RAC Orientation Q&A session), the Google Meet link will be sent to all participants and should be available from their Google Calendar once they are added.

Online Webinar Registration

You will use the the Commerce Learning Center to register for specific webinars. Registration for instructor-led training (ILT) sessions will be available once you are assigned the curriculum for your class. You should receive multiple notifications from WDTD once the curriculum has been assigned to you and your class officially begins. Please note: Registration in the CLC is REQUIRED for all teletraining sessions.

Setting Up Webinars

Required RAC webinar sessions will be delivered using GotoWebinar. Instructions for setting up a teletraining session are provided below.

Sign Up for ILTs in the CLC

Once you are signed up for RAC, all of the instructor-led training (or ILTs) sessions you need to take will appear in the RAC curriculum on your Commerce Learning Center (CLC) transcript. You need to register for one session for each ILT. Once you register for a session in the CLC, you will receive an e-mail with information on how to register with GotoWebinar. This e-mail should arrive within a few minutes of signing up. IF YOU DON'T RECEIVE THIS E-MAIL WITHIN 24 HOURS OF REGISTERING FOR YOUR SESSION, PLEASE CONTACT US AT .

Setting Up GotoWebinar

To setup GotoWebinar, there is no need to download anything ahead of time. You may be asked to install a plugin at start up, but that download shouldn't take more than a minute or so to install. You should also be able to attend the session in a browser window without using a software install.

When you register for a webinar via the CLC, you will receive an e-mail with a link and information about the GotoWebinar session. You can use the link to attend the teletraining or you can reach the meeting via the GotoWebinar web page (i.e., click on the "Join Webinar" button and enter your Webinar ID). If you sign up for a session and do not receive an e-mail within 24 hours, please contact Radar and Applications Course help e-mail list address.

Registering with GotoWebinar ahead of time offers the benefit of getting e-mail reminders about the session. You should receive reminders one week, one day, and one hour prior to the start of the session.

Pre-Session Events

Here are a few things to accomplish prior to your teletraining session:

  1. Login to the computer you plan on using and make sure it is up to date (i.e., your session will not be interrupted by system updates).
  2. Close any programs and windows you will not need prior to joining the webinar.
  3. Being logged onto a VPN can result in laggy performance, so try not to be on such a connection if you can help it..
  4. If attending in a public, or semi-public, area, consider using headphones so you and others near you will not be distracted during the session.
  5. Check your email when you get on shift the day of the session and make sure you can find the registration link.
  6. Join the webinar using the link from your e-mail 10-15 prior to the start of the webinar.
  7. You may be asked to participate in a brief check-in once you join the webinar. You can unmute your line and answer verbally or use the Question Panel in GotoWebinar to let the instructor know you are ready to go.