Transforming training through the increased use of distance learning

Military Police, April, 2003 by Sandra Gibson, Larry Helms

"The delivery of standardized individual, collective and self-development training to soldiers and units anytime through the application of information technologies."

--The U.S. Army definition of distributed learning

The Strategic Plan for Transforming DOD Training, 1 March 2002, recognizes that "transformed training" is the key enabler to transforming the Department of Defense. An essential component for transforming training is the increased use of distance learning methodologies.

In some form or other, distance learning has been an alternative to the traditional classroom for many years. The term distance learning was coined by Otto Peters and other practitioners at the University of Tubingen in the 1960s. (1) The term has evolved to distance education and most recently distributed learning (DL). As early as the 1940s, the U.S. military began employing print-based correspondence courses. Other media delivery used by the military through the years included television; "teleteaching," which used commercial dial-up telephones; electronic blackboards; and more recently, personal computers. In November 1997, the Distance Learning/Training Technology Applications Subcommittee of the Secretary of the Army's Education Committee was established to review and evaluate the status of DL within Army training. In a June 1999 briefing to the Secretary of the Army, (2) the subcommittee recommended that the U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC) adopt the Internet as The Army Distributed Learning Program (TADLP) distribution backbone, enabling training to be Web-centric in the long term. The subcommittee also added that the Army must use CD-ROMs as a convenient, necessary interim measure while transitioning to the Web. This article provides an update on the status of DL development at the U.S. Army Maneuver Support Center (MANSCEN) Directorate of Training Development (DOTD), Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri, and more specifically, near-term plans for implementing the DL courseware being developed.

During the stand-up of MANSCEN, senior leaders recognized that DL would play a major role in future Army Transformation processes and opted to establish a Multimedia Development Team (MDT) within DOTD. The DOTD MDT has the responsibility to conduct MANSCEN DL contract oversight for contractor-developed courseware, develop selected in-house multimedia products, and upgrade legacy MANSCEN school courseware. The MDT staff is comprised of instructional designers, training technicians, a visual information specialist, and a computer scientist specifically trained to facilitate courseware development at MANSCEN.

To establish the MDT workload, the MANSCEN schools' courseware redesign and development requests are reviewed by MDT and approved by DOTD. Course priorities are determined, based on a careful review of the TRADOC TADLP courseware redesign list published each fiscal year. TRADOC schools may at any time nominate courses to be added to the redesign list. Course nominations are reviewed at TRADOC and prioritized reflecting the Army's strategic needs. Courses accepted on the list are the Army's top priority for DL course redesign. TRADOC allocates DL funds On a priority basis to redesign about forty courses per year. Once the DOTD MDT annual course redesign and development requirements are established, a decision is made whether to conduct some of the funded courseware development work in-house (by requesting a waiver from TRADOC) or to proceed with contracting the work to one of the TRADOC courseware development contractors. In any case, MDT personnel work closely with MANSCEN DOTD Warrior and school training developers throughout each phase of the development.

Early MANSCEN courseware development efforts were primarily targeted for CD-ROM-based delivery. In 2002, the emphasis changed to developing Web-based courseware. The time required to complete an average forty-hour DL course redesign project TRADOC is 24-30 months. (3) In an attempt to reduce the overall time required to create courseware at MANSCEN, DOTD has implemented a Rapid Courseware Development Model (RCDM). This model is a new approach not currently used by other TRADOC schools. We requested and received approval to augment the in-house MDT with personnel contracted to develop Instructional Media Design Packages and storyboards on-site under the close watch of MDT. This approach uses highly skilled contracted instructional designers and writers working alongside the in-house MDT, allowing them to be able to redesign and develop 100 hours of interactive courseware this fiscal year. We believe the DOTD RCDM will prove to be a very successful initiative to reduce interactive courseware development time.

Having a reliable, proven avenue for DL implementation is just as important as courseware development. We must have a method and procedures for delivering the completed courseware and providing the essential support that students require in order to have a successful experience with DL. To that end, we developed what we are calling the MANSCEN Advanced Distributed Learning University (ADLU), a three-phased (crawl, walk, run) implementation plan for DL. The overall mission of the ADLU includes--