Training delivered for the entire Air Force … and then some!

Air Force Comptroller, Spring, 2008 by Barbara J. Gilchrist

What if training is your core competency, and a trained Airman (big "A" for officer, enlisted, and civilian) is your "bomb-on-target?" Then that would make you Air Education and Training Command (AETC), "the First Command," recruiting, training, and educating over 200,000 of our best Airmen annually. In January 2008, General Bill Looney, the Commander of AETC, launched AETC's vision in a white paper titled, On Learning: The Future of Air Force Education and Training (1).

The white paper describes an exciting future based on new approaches to learning and the way ahead to extend the "learning corpus" across the enterprise of more than 700,000 military and civilian members. It is transformational, and not unlike the effort Air Force Financial Management (FM) has already put into motion. It begins building the "roadmap" for career-long, continuous learning, and ensures we meet AETC's vision of "delivering unrivaled air, space and cyberspace education and training" for tomorrow. The FM training transformation initiative led by SAF/FMX and SAF/FMPW is absolutely "in sync" with AETC's broader vision, and positions FM as a prototype for greater training transformation efforts across our Air Force!

Why does AETC need to transform training? The white paper outlines the numerous challenges facing the Air Force in relation to recruiting and training the "millennial generation" alongside an exponential growth of information. There continues to be a serious demand for new and innovative approaches to knowledge management and educational offerings.

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Who comprises the "millennial generation ?" Born between 1980 and 2001, "millennials" are digital natives--they use cell phones, text messaging, Facebook, and YouTube. They are online, plugged in, and tuned in. The white paper addresses how this generation relates to training and describes how "the young men and women who will lead our Air Force in the future have been living in a digital world their entire lives and are better prepared than any other generation to operate in that environment. It is imperative we understand their needs and expectations, and develop an enterprise-wide system that fosters learning and captures their most critical asset--knowledge."

Furthermore, in maintaining an all-volunteer force, the Air Force must compete for skilled resources. Only 27% of today's American youth qualify for Air Force duty, and this rate is declining. To recruit from this smaller pool of eligible candidates and sustain airpower dominance, the Air Force needs to attract and retain "millennials" by providing education and training that leverages their lifelong exposure, aptitude, and love affair with changing technologies. As learning styles evolve, so must our approach to education and training.

Another challenge we face is the rapid growth of information. Experts predict the amount of knowledge will continue to increase; some say the sum of all that is known is doubling every seven years. The result is an 'information explosion' driving a continuous requirement to refocus training on that which is most important.

As our training audience changes, and knowledge increases exponentially, we need to take active steps to engage the "millennials" and optimize their development and lifelong learning needs. This calls for a new way of thinking about course content and the technologies we use to deliver training, coordinate learning events, and manage knowledge.

General Looney's white paper highlights three interrelated concepts integral to the AETC transformational training vision: knowledge management, continuous learning, and precision learning.

KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT

Knowledge management is "the end-to-end continuous process that describes the systematic creation, acquisition, integration, distribution, application, and archiving of knowledge to drive behavior and actions which support organizational objectives and mission accomplishment." A systematic approach is necessary to ensure information is captured, managed, distributed, shared, and accessed by all Airmen so they can acquire skills they need to perform assigned tasks and solve problems. Such an approach requires rapid access to relevant knowledge at the right place and time, and in the right format. This rapid access to information more closely integrates training and operations. Furthermore, an emphasis on knowledge management and access to knowledge results in a shift from education and training "pit stops" to a focus on continuous learning.

CONTINUOUS LEARNING

"Continuous learning focuses on the development of Airmen from before accession through retirement or separation and beyond." The desired end state for our Airmen involves education and training as a lifelong process. This requires uninterrupted access to knowledge at the appropriate time and place and presented in the right manner to enable the right learning outcome. This uninterrupted access to pertinent knowledge for all Airmen is the key ingredient to effective continuous learning. AETC plans to use best practices, current tactics, techniques, and procedures based on lessons learned and theories captured in a collaborative environment by effective knowledge management systems. The bottom line is we must put useful information rapidly into the hands of Airmen and take knowledge to the battlefield faster than our adversaries can "bring it."