DAU exports PMT-352 to South Region: Huntsville first region to test exportability features of DAU's new level III certification course - Acquisition Education, Training, and Career Development - Defense Acquisition University, Huntsville, Alabama, Program Management Training

Program Manager, Sept-Oct, 2002 by Collie J. Johnson

Tom McMannes

Tom McMannes is a Professor of Systems Engineering at the DAU South Region in Huntsville. He moved from DAU at Fort Belvoir to DAU South as part of DAU's expansion efforts, which will provide core professional development to students located in the Southern Region of the United States.

McMannes was an active duty military instructor at DAU's main campus at Fort Belvoir, where he was the Course Manager for the Software Acquisition Management online course and taught the Advanced Program Management Course and the Intermediate Software Acquisition Course. The new PMT-352 course, McMannes emphasized, will enhance the students' ability to work as members of an Integrated Product Team to reduce complex Program Management issues. Another benefit of the new structure, he added, is that using regional offices will reduce TDY costs for both the DAU faculty and the local commands.

John Bennett

Professor of Systems Acquisition Management John S. Bennett teaches in the Program Management and Leadership Department, at the DAU Capital and Northeast Region, Fort Belvoir. Bennett is the "go-to" guy for issues concerning DAU's Operating Support System (OSS), for both distance learning and classroom instruction.

"OSS," Bennett explained, "is the operating system for the DAU virtual campus servers currently based in Springfield, Va. The OSS enables students to take our online courses and instructors to manage those courses. It also provides security by requiring a username and password for access.

Huntsville, as with the other four DAU Regions, relies on Bennett to keep the virtual campus online and operating smoothly. Besides upkeep on the OSS, Bennett also organized the lesson review videoteleconference for Huntsville's first offering of PMT-352.

Other Key Players

Other key players were Air Force Maj. Jim Ashworth from the DAU main campus; Meta Thomas, a training technician from the Fort Belvoir campus who provided administrative support; and Army Lt. Col. Jeff Patten from the DAU South Region.

Ashworth is the Program Director, Center for Program Management, DAU Curricula Development and Support Center, which includes managing the curricula for the ACQ-101 and -201 courses. For the PMT-352 development team, Ashworth is the Deputy Course Manager for delivery to Huntsville and all other campuses. His job is to order the computers, put in place the Information Technology (IT) infrastructure, ensure the technical delivery issues are taken care of, and build the computer software images used in the classroom portion of PMT-352. He is also responsible for DAU faculty certification training for PMT-352.

"To date, it looks as though PMT-352 at Huntsville has been very successful," said Ashworth. "They've had a hiccup or two, mostly in computer image IT issues. But problems, for the most part, have been minimal, and the Huntsville faculty and staff have been very effective in minimizing any negative impacts."

Patten, who is Head of the Acquisition Management Department for the DAU South Region, handled the online portion of the class (PMT 352-A), making sure that the computers and the class-room were all ready to go before the new instructors came in. He also worked with Fort Belvoir to ensure all the support materials were in place, such as Lego kits, batteries, and cameras.