2002 Distance Learning Association Awards: DAU named winner for second consecutive year—Knowledge Management Officer honored

Program Manager, May-June, 2002 by Christina Cavoli, Collie Johnson

FORT BELVOIR, Va. (April 10, 2002) -- How will the digital age change the way we learn? Using technology to improve and expedite learning, to excite and entice students, teachers and administrators, is a hot topic for educators at all levels--academic, professional, business, and government. The widespread interest in applications of distance learning was evident at the 12th Annual eLearning Conference & Expo, held April 8-11 at the DC Convention Center.

Thousands of corporate executives, education professionals, and government and military personnel attended the conference. Keynote speakers included former Mayor of New York City Rudolph Guiliani. A crammed exhibit hall blazed with innovation, new ideas, demonstrations, possibilities--all showcasing the marriage of technical achievement with educational goals to produce a superior product delivered in a more useful way.

In the arena of distance learning, the Defense Acquisition University (DAU) is receiving its share of awards and recognition for innovative programming, forward-thinking ideas, and individual excellence.

On April 10, the U.S. Distance Learning Association (USDLA) presented 11 Distance Learning Awards to professionals, organizations, companies, and institutions for excellence in teaching, programming, and outstanding individual achievement. DAU, for the second year in a row walked away a winner, earning two of the coveted awards.

The purpose of the USDLA Awards is to acknowledge the efforts of innovators and "pioneers," and highlight those that are excellent in the field. Categories included Higher Education, Government, K-12 Education, Corporate/Business, and Telemedicine.

USDLA President Glenda Mathis introduced this year's award winners. "A few years ago," noted Mathis, "it was hard to explain the concept of distance learning, much less find effective examples. Now, there is an explosion of high-quality programs and instructors in distance learning."

Excellence in Distance Learning Programming-Government Award

DAU Provost Richard Reed and Vice Provost Dr. J. Robert Ainsley, accepted the USDLA Excellence in Distance Learning Programming-Government Award on behalf of DAU, for providing an outstanding model of distance learning. DAU President Frank J. Anderson Jr., unable to attend the awards ceremony, commented on this year's win.

"Technology has fundamentally changed the way we live and work. DoD is committed to moving to an e-Business environment. Our goal is to facilitate this business transformation by training the way we will work--e-Learning to support c-Business."

Anderson said that DAU must accelerate the transformation of DoD acquisition training, and that smartly applying technology would facilitate the university's journey into the future.

Distance learning complements the training mission of DAU: to provide a program that fully embraces certification training, performance support, and a culture of continuous learning. Incorporating technology provides convenient, economical access to education, training, performance support, and expert advice to all members of the DoD acquisition community.

DAU works to effectively deliver a quality product to an audience of over 138,000 students worldwide. Since 1998, nearly 42,000 students have completed distance learning classes; the reengineer log of the Acquisition 101 (ACQ-101) course alone has resulted in a 157 work-year return to the workforce, which translates Into an annual productivity return of almost a million dollars.

Currently, annual DAU online course graduates exceed 12,000. DAU predicts that by the end of 2002, traditional classroom education will drop to 64 percent for all DAU students. Online instructional time has increased from 15,570 hours in 1998 to over 1.5 million hours in 2002. Online course graduates at DAU will top 60,000 this year. These numbers indicate an improved learning environment that also offers reduced education and training costs.

Most Outstanding Achievement Individual in Government Award

The Most Outstanding Achievement by an Individual in Government Award went to DAU Knowledge Management Officer John Hickok, for his exemplary contribution to the DAU Distance Learning program. Hickok's vision and leadership have been pivotal in the conception and implementation of the online DAU Project Management Community of Practice. Allowing global acquisition and logistics personnel a way to collaborate and disseminate information and best business practices, Community of Practice supports continuous learning and performance support.

"Over the last several years the ship of DAU has been slowly changing Its course," said Hickok, "from purely classroom instruction to lifetime education, training, and job support for the entire AT&L workforce."

Hickok emphasized that the success of DAU's initiatives in Knowledge Management, and specifically with respect to providing online performance support to the AT&L workforce, is due to the tireless efforts of DAU's faculty and the critical support of DAU's leadership team.