During the air war over Yugoslavia 18 months ago, Navy and Marine
pilots flying the EA-6B Prowler electronic warfare aircraft were
able to take refresher courses online while on duty at Aviano, Italy.
Those courses previously had been available only at their training
squadron on Whidbey Island, Wash.
“We found the crews were pulling up the courseware on the
[Defense Department classified network] SIPRNET, so they could refresh
the material before flying a mission,” said Douglas C. Greenlaw,
vice president of training at Delex Systems, in Vienna, Va., a defense
contractor that specializes in information technology and training
systems.
“This effort has been held up as one of the pioneering activities
in ADL [advanced distributed learning] applications,” he said
in a recent interview.
ADL, also known as distance learning, is a booming business in
the military services. Riding on the ease-of-access and user-friendly
qualities of the Internet, many Defense Department agencies are
investing millions of dollars in training programs that can be delivered
online. Even courses that involve classified information, such as
Prowler flight training, are being offered online, because the technology
makes it possible, Greenlaw said.
“We have been working for almost two years revising and maintaining
the EA-6B curriculum for the Fleet Replacement Squadron and the
Electronic Attack Weapons School,” said Greenlaw. “The
courses they had were not taking advantage of modern technologies,
such as ADL.” The company converted the courseware into a
Web-ready format.
For the EA-6B flight training project, the company operates a learning
center at Whidbey Island, which is the home base for the Prowler,
and one at Cherry Point, N.C., for the Marine Corps. “The
learning center contains all the curricula for the EA-6B community,”
said Greenlaw. “The users can reach back to the learning center
and pull information to where they need it.” They have 24-hour-a-day
access and can exchange e-mails with the instructors.
Greenlaw foresees this program will lead to an expansion of the
ADL business. “There is interest in trying to leverage what
we learned in [the Prowler] community to the other communities,
so we can take advantage of the technology without having to reinvent
it in every community.”
The company is probing various learning management systems, to
see which ones are commercially available and more suitable for
ADL. Learning management systems are tools that help organize the
course materials, collect student records, record course-completion
results and provide feedback to the developer, so the course can
be improved.
Using private investments, Delex recently launched LessonCenter.com,
a commercial venture that will offer a distance-learning portal
for any organization that wants to train its employees, said Edmond
F. Driscoll, president and chief executive officer of Delex. “Over
the next two years, we will be investing about $3.5 million in technology.
Some of it is modeling and simulation. Some of it is for a learning
portal that we call ‘lessonscenter.com,’” he said
in an interview.
The recent wave of publicity about the Army’s Online University
program has sparked widespread interest in the military services’
investment strategies for distance learning programs. Delex is watching
the Army’s program closely but, like other companies, is waiting
to see how these programs unfold. “We decided to build a facility
to do [ADL] and apply the government standard to any courseware
content we put on this portal,” said Driscoll. “We are
aware of the Army’s program and have not decided whether we
are going to be a player or not. We are trying to gain knowledge
by doing and delivering this technology.”
The first course offering under lessoncenter.com will be “something
mundane, for the health care industry,” he said. It is a course
to teach employees the proper codes that have to be included in
forms used by doctors, so they can get paid for their services.
“It’s a critical element that is missing now in the
medical field,” said Driscoll. The courses focus on coding
and billing compliance.
“I think we are on the verge of a revolution in how training
is conducted,” said Greenlaw. The Web, he explained, offers
technologies such as “intelligent tutoring,” where the
curricula can be tailored to respond to an individual learner’s
behavior and customize the course for the student. The technique
is called “adaptive remediation,” said Greenlaw. That
means the software will develop learning methods that will vary
from learner to learner, based on the student’s behavior.
Some students, for example, are visual learners. Others need to
hear things, or touch them. “The curriculum can adjust itself
to respond to the student’s needs, act like an individual
tutor guiding the student,” he said, The technologies are
based on artificial intelligence systems.
“This approach to training is considerably more effective
than traditional classroom-based instruction,” Greenlaw said.
“I believe the military and commercial marketplaces are about
to take advantage of this technology in a big way.”
The demand for these technologies in both the military and civilian
worlds is fueled by the same realities, such as shortage of qualified
employees, increased workloads and tight budgets, Greenlaw noted.
Commercial customers today generate more business, “but there
is still a huge military requirement for application of this technology.”
The Defense Department, he said, “appears to be taking a leadership
position for setting policy associate with ADL.”
One of those efforts is a software program called shareable content
object reference model (SCORM), which is driving ADL standardization,
said Greenlaw, and “has significant potential to leverage
technology across the military requirements and benefit commercial
organizations.
“Before you apply any technology, you have to do a thorough
analysis of the training requirements,” he said. “That
distinguishes our approach from others, who like to push technology.”
For some courses, video games or simulations may be needed to achieve
a high level of interactivity.
Asked whether ADL will save customers money, Greenlaw said the
jury is still out. “We have done some studies. ADL is still
fairly new and I don’t think that we have enough data yet
to draw definitive conclusions.” Pentagon officials said that
two-thirds of the cost of training Defense Department-wide is attributed
to instructor and student time. “The capacity to do training
any time, anywhere, saves [the cost involved in] sending instructors
and students to the school.”
Under contract to the UPS shipping firm, Delex developed a $50,000
course that, said Greenlaw, saved the client $2.5 million in the
first year of operation. “It’s a pretty powerful economic
justification for the technology.” The $2.5 million savings
resulted from airplanes departing on time more often.
Delex was awarded an eight-year contract in late August, by the
U.S. Navy for the development of training products, with emphasis
on Web-based training and tutoring.
With a $500 million ceiling, the contract is expected to focus
on Navy aviation training efforts such as air crew training, electronic
classrooms, establishment and support of learning centers, enterprise
system design and development, maintenance training, and other multimedia
applications.
The program is managed by the Naval Air Warfare Center Training
Systems Division (NAWC-TSD) and the Naval Air Systems Command PMA-205,
which is responsible for all naval aviation training systems. The
Education and Training Strategies Division for the Chief of Naval
Education and Training is expected to launch the Navy Learning Network,
an educational portal that will enable sailors to get technical
training online while deployed anyplace around the world.
Army Online University
The Army released in September a request for proposals for the University
Access Online education program. The goal is to select a consortium
of firms that will set up prototype systems at three Army installations,
to offer Web-based educational programs. The three sites are Fort
Benning, Ga., Fort Campbell, Ky., and Fort Hood, Texas.
Army Secretary Louis Caldera launched the program last July. The
project, for which the Army will request $600 million over six years,
was designed to offer eligible soldiers the opportunity to obtain
higher education degrees and technical certifications via the Internet.
About $48 million was allocated for the Online University effort
in fiscal year 2001. Another $550 million will be sought from Congress
during the next five years.
More than 1,000 representatives from universities, colleges, and
high-tech companies turned up on August 2, for an “industry
day” hosted by Caldera in Washington, D.C., to allow potential
contractors to exhibit their products.
A laptop computer, printer and Internet access are just some of
the items the contractor will be expected to provide soldiers registered
in the program.
Army Sgt. Maj. Jack L. Tilley told the conference that it takes
soldiers an average of 12 years to get an associate’s degree
while serving on active duty. The reasons, he explained, are unusual
work hours, field exercises, deployments, strict limits on the number
of credit hours that one university will transfer from another and
a cap on the number of credit hours allowed each semester under
the Tuition Assistance Program.
The Army University Access Online contract is slated to be awarded
in December, to either a single academic entity or a consortium
of education providers. Depending on the costs and requirements
of the contract, the program also may be offered to spouses sometime
in the future, Caldera said. Reservists and Department of the Army
civilians will likely be offered some form of the program in the
future.
According to Army figures, 9,021 soldiers have enrolled in distance-education
courses so far this year. Under current policy, the government pays
75 percent of the tuition cost, and each soldier pays the remaining
25 percent.
The downside to distance learning, however, is the likelihood that
a student may not be motivated enough to complete an education program
online. One industry consultant who works on these problems said
“experience shows that if students don’t have an investment
in the courses, they won’t complete them. ... Students demand
human contact. The Web alone won’t maintain the motivation
necessary.” Off-duty course work, additionally, competes with
family time.
The solution is to have “local mentors,” said Timothy
Olwell, a consultant with ReliaSoft Professional Services, in Tucson,
Ariz. His company developed a Web site called ArmyDL.com, which
was designed for the Army’s distance learning program.
“We have a strategic and tactical plan for the Army to attack
this,” Olwell said in an interview. “Not only getting
the soldier enlisted and started in the program, but getting the
soldier successfully through the program.
“We see many soldiers, airmen and sailors start with a lot
of motivation, good will and intent, and not finish,” he said.
“For the Army’s program to be successful, it should
be gauged not just on how many soldiers take a free laptop and surf
the Internet, but on how many actually get college credits and associate’s
degrees in their first enlistment terms.”
ReliaSoft has done similar work for the Navy and for commercial
customers, Olwell said. “We understand how much motivation
plays a part. When you deploy and you have other priorities, such
as family and work and education, which one is going to fall off
first? Probably the education.” The company provides academically
trained mentors— mostly former military academy instructors—who
understand the Army and help soldiers stay motivated and focused,
he said. ReliaSoft expects to be involved with the Online University
program. “There are only one or two or three companies that
are big enough to take this on.”
Among the large “systems integration” contractors at
the industry exhibition were General Dynamics Communication Systems,
based in Taunton, Mass., and Electronic Data Systems Corporation,
from Plano, Texas. Experts at the conference said they expected
the University of Alabama at Tuscaloosa and the University of Maryland’s
University College—which has a well-established online education
program—to be the front runners.
Army officials stressed they are serious about this program, and
it will not be just a “pilot” project. “We are
not going to have a pilot program. We are going to award a contract
and implement that contract at two to three installations only,
because that is what the funding will allow us,” said Brig.
Gen. Kathryn G. Frost, the Army’s adjutant general. “How
much we do will depend to a large degree on the cost of the program.”
Caldera said the contract “may be with one vendor, or a consortium
of vendors who will provide the technology package, run the help
desk, and sign up the schools that will be the providers of the
course content and awarders of degrees. The vendor would sign up
any qualified school that was willing to offer its courses to our
students on the terms the Army offers. The vendor will work with
the Army to specify those terms.”