Drafting e-Learning Into the U.S. Army

The U.S. Army is making a considerable investment in the development and delivery of electronic media for education and training purposes. The past several years have seen rapid expansion of educational opportunities for soldiers at a time when the Army is placing a higher priority to the knowledge level of soldiers, at a time when so many of the troops are deployed away from their home station, when traditional seated courses become impractical or impossible.

As stated in a recent article in the Federal Times, “the Army asks its people to dedicate their hearts and minds to mission accomplishment, and in return, the Army has an obligation to provide its personnel with the tools they need to succeed in their professional careers.” (Stan Davis, 9/23/2005 http://www.federaltimes.com/index2.php?S=1130107 ) By the way, I highly recommend clicking on this link to read the entire article. It provides a concise yet excellent description of the Army’s motivation and partnerships in their enterprise-wide endeavor.

Online education has many of the same advantages for members of the military as it does for their civilian counterparts. The online educational programs allow an efficient availability of course material, much of it self-paced for members of the military around the globe. Any soldier with access to the internet can participate, improving their knowledge on a very wide variety of subjects. In addition, the Army has been able to deliver these high-quality educational products with a cost savings.

The electronic courses are available through a convenient multi-purpose portal, the “AKO” (Army Knowledge Online) portal. AKO provides every soldier with access to an almost unbelievable amount of information that was either previously unavailable or could only be accessed through a human gatekeeper such as unit administrative personnel. Soldiers can access, on their own, their pay records, medical status, promotion status, enrollment status in military schools, etc. The AKO portal also provides a means for the soldier to access and enroll in a wide variety of educational programs. Below is an image of the sign-on page for the AKO portal.



The slide below shows a close-up up of the log-in choices. The first choice includes all the standard graphics. The second choice ("AKO Lite") is a little more streamlined with less intensive graphics to enhance service for soldiers that are using slower-speed connections.


The next two slides show the home page for the AKO portal. As you can see, there are many functions available, including e-mail and links to a wide variety of educational and administrative services.






Distributed Learning System
According to the description provided through the AKO portal, the Arm’s Distributed Learning System is “the Army’s technology enterprise project for delivering and managing distributed learning to soldiers and civilians around the globe.”
http://www.dls.army.mil/home_index.html

The Distributed Learning System includes many components, including the Army Learning Management System (ALMS) which is described on the AKO portal as “a web-based information system that delivers training to soldiers, manages training information, provides training collaboration, scheduling, and career planning capabilities in both resident and non-resident training environments.“

eArmyU:
eArmyU is a collaboration of colleges and universities that are brought together to create a broad range of educational opportunities from a wide variety of educational institutions. The web-based courses offered through eArmyU allow great flexibility for military personnel that are faced with challenging and unpredictable schedules from anywhere in the world they can access the internet. Click on this link to see an informational flyer on eArmyU.

Army e-Learning
Army e-Learning provides a very broad range of courses in several different career fields, including many different IT courses, some of which may be awarded college credit. Click on this link to read a brief article describing Army e-Learning. http://www.tradoc.army.mil/pao/TNSarchives/July05/070505.htm



DANTES Distance Learning Program
DANTES (Defense Activity for Non-Traditional Education Support) is a distance learning program that, according to the description on AKO, “provides a wide range of nontraditional education programs critical for Service members who need alternatives to fulfill degree requirements.” DANTES courses are available to personnel in all military services. DANTES includes web-based education as well as more traditional course delivery systems. Click on this link to read a more detailed description of what DANTES is.
http://www.dantes.doded.mil/dantes_web/distancelearning/2328.htm


Army Correspondence Course Program (ACCP)
Provided by the Army Institute for Professional Development (AIPD), which is part of the Distributed Learning System (DLS) described earlier.



As a National Guardsman, I have many of the same opportunities that are available to active duty personnel. Many of the programs that are part of the Distributed Learning System are provided to soldiers in the Army National Guard as well as active-duty servicemen and servicewomen. I have completed several correspondence courses or subcourses and have found the online delivery of these courses to be infinitely more convenient and efficient than the old process.

Prior to the development of these online correspondence courses, soldiers had request courses through their unit administrative personnel. It was a fairly cumbersome process to the soldier, including selecting, ordering, completing the paper-and-pencil courses. After they were completed, the answer sheets and tests had to be mailed in to be graded and recorded. Then, a certificate of completion was generated and mailed back to the soldier.

Now, the individual soldier can browse the online catalog, select a course, enroll and complete the course without ever having to contact any unit personnel. The test is taken online and graded electronically, providing immediate feedback to the soldier. The results are automatically posted to an electronic transcript and an e-mail message of completion is generated and sent to the soldier, which is received in less than one hour.

The Army continues to enhance the quality and quantity of distributed learning. New courses and options are being added that will most certainly enhance the readiness of soldiers to perform their tasks more effectively, particularly at a time when troops are expected to have a greater number of skills needed to meet the constantly changing expectations and missions.

For example, in response to the great need for soldiers to be fluent in languages other than English, the Army is adding the highly popular “Rosetta Stone” language courses, which are available to all Army personnel, including active duty, National Guard and reserve.

The significant investment in resources geared towards the online delivery of courses to members of the military seems to be a very effective innovation. The Army provides multiple programs and courses that are designed to meet the challenges of developing a highly-educated population during times of less predictable schedules and deployments far from home station. In essence, any soldier with access to a computer and the internet can receive education tailored to meet their personal and professional needs while meeting the needs of the Army, no matter where in the world they may be.

The freedom of the internet can be a double-edged sword. The ease of sharing information and buying online also creates fertile ground for people that seek to take advantage of other internet users. Unfortunately, part of the e-learning process involves ensuring security of information and protection against hackers and spammers, online theives and predators. These groups can, at a minimum, make the online experience more frustrating. They can also cause very real harm in the form of loss of money or identity theft or worse.

Gene created the following slides to highlight some of the pitfalls as well as ways to help protect yourself and others from the dangers online.

Little Web Schoolhouse

With the days of the little red schoolhouse long gone, the prospect of the little web schoolhouse looms in the future. Students in the 21st century will not be limited by their own school districts’ resources. Distance learning is fast becoming an option that is quickly giving more and more students opportunities that were unthinkable just a few years ago.

The history of distance learning in elementary and secondary schools spans about 50 years. The earliest years used live television broadcasts to bring the expertise of master teachers into many classrooms. The 1960s concentrated on television as an enrichment experience to bring students to places that they otherwise would be unable to visit. The 70s brought more changes as television programs were professionally produced with the curriculum in mind. The end of the century saw the trend swing back to the basics. In general, before the turn of the century, however, distance learning involved a one-way flow of instruction. http://carbon.cudenver.edu/~lsherry/pubs/issues.html#issues

Today’s distance education in elementary and secondary schools involves a high degree of interactivity. Gone are the days of the teacher-in-the-box, dispensing information to be swallowed whole by the student audience. The flow of information is multi-directional. The most successful distance education programs promote interactivity between teacher and students, between students and their learning environments, and among students themselves. Active learning is a key component. The issue of connectivity with people is sometimes a forgotten consideration in distance learning.

A common concern in distance learning is in the speed of the connection between the student and the learning site. The trend in the past few years has been toward using broadband connections. But not all learners or learning sites have this capability. Upgrading technology is not always an option for money-strapped school districts or individual students working from home. It is important to remember that not only are students using distance learning from their schools sites but also from home. Many individual consumers still use a less expensive dial-up connection to access the Internet. The slower speed takes longer for files to transfer. Student progress and attention can suffer by virtue of the extra time lost to slow connection speeds.

Quality of instruction is another concern. During the early years, many distance learning classes have left a lot to be desired in this area. http://www.westga.edu/~distance/ojdla/fall53/valentine53.html Standards have often been non-existent, resulting in second-rate classes. Teachers have gradually become more adept at managing, motivating, and interacting with students they have never actually met. As distance learning and technology evolve, the gap between face-to-face learning and distance learning will continue to narrow. Distance learning will continue to emerge with particular advantages that will make it desirable to more segments of learners.

An interesting “school” called Laurel Springs features a nationally accredited K – 12 curriculum of customized individual instruction--but no ivy-covered buildings. It’s all out there in cyberspace--a private school without the required uniforms or snooty rich kids to compete with. http://www.laurelsprings.com/default.asp Laurel Springs has a variety of learning opportunities for all elementary and secondary students including online courses for students in grades six and above. Laurel Springs is not alone. Another high school that endeavors to teach a wide range of high school courses, including the fine arts, online is Keystone National High School. http://www.keystonehighschool.com/ If you’ll follow the tab for curriculum to catalog, scrolling to fine arts, you’ll see an ironically fuzzy image by artist Michelangelo titled over with the words Art in Focus. Art production is listed as part of this distance course but no explanation is provided for how that actually occurs. All this education comes at a price--$369.00 per online one-credit course. That’s not as bad as you might expect. But what if Keystone closes its online doors while you’re taking a class?

A more credible online resource might be from the Center for Distance and Independent Learning. Associated with the University of Missouri, MU High School offers students more choices for distance learning at much lower rates than Keystone and the others. The courses make it possible for a wide range of students to complete online courses necessary for graduation from a Missouri high school. http://cdis.missouri.edu/MUHighSchool/HShome.htm
For a student who lives in a rural area, is home schooled, or has difficulty attending a traditional high school, this may be an alternative way of completing a high school diploma.

Distance learning for elementary and secondary students is still in its toddlerhood. The steps towards progress are shaky and wobbly at times. And along the way, it falls flat on its face. But with time, great strides can be expected. Students of all ages, inside schools and out, will find new ways to utilize distance learning in the future. Some will use it as a supplement to traditional learning. Some will use it as an alternative.

Those of you who are personally acquainted with distance learning are welcome to add your comments and experiences to this blog.

Hi!

This blog is created as a group project by Suzanne, Gene and David as a forum to share our research on some issues related to Internet connectivity in e-learning.

Here's the topics we'll be exploring.

Challenges to Connectivity
Gene's posts will be related to computer viruses and their effects on the smooth delivery of online education

Opportunities and Disparity in e-Learning
Suzanne and David will be exploring the e-learning available to a few different groups, along with connectivity issues that may effect the equity of e-learning in today's environment.

Suzanne will be exploring looking at elementary and secondary education.

David will be investigating the e-learning education for the U.S.military.

We hope to shed some light on the challenges to education equity faced during the explosive growth of online education.