WORKFORCE
Office of the Army Director for Acquisi- tion Career Management (DACM). “Te national mitigation strategy called on all entities within the United States to practice social distancing and look at other ways to deliver goods and services. Schools and colleges were closed, and students, teach- ers and parents had to quickly learn how to study and teach virtually. Te Defense Acquisition University is no exception.”
Tousands of students who were enrolled in resident classes at
the time social
distancing restrictions were put in place had to reschedule travel plans and return to their permanent duty stations imme- diately. Other students were temporarily stranded—but once DAU addressed the needs of students currently in training, they could focus efforts on future classes, Clark explained.
“DAU has reviewed their class schedule one week at a time to determine which classes could be delivered virtually and which classes would need to be canceled,” she said. “Transition from resident [class- room] training to virtual instructor-led training [VILT] has been well received, but the VILT offering has not been with- out challenges.”
Some students prefer hands-on, in-class- room training because it helps them learn better. Others find they have too many distractions in the home, from children needing help with schoolwork to spouses also working from home, Clark added. Ten there are the technological chal- lenges, like low bandwidth or issues using WebEx, which is DAU’s virtual learning platform. Finally, there may be schedul- ing conflicts—resident classes may have been rescheduled virtually at new times and previously enrolled students may not be able to attend anymore. Despite the challenges, Clark said the lessons learned during the pandemic have been beneficial.
KEEPING A DISTANCE
Spc. Tyler Reninger, with the 301st Maneuver Enhancement Brigade, reviews course materials with his instructors and classmates during the emergency Basic Leader Course in Jordan. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, junior enlisted Soldiers are continuing their professional military education through distance learning while travel restrictions are in place. (Photo by Capt. Ernest Wang, Area Support Group – Jordan)
“These new challenges provide DAU instructors with experience and knowledge to create new, pandemic-response case studies which have been integrated into DAU course content,” Clark said. “VILT requires no travel and, as a result, the government has saved hundreds of thou- sands of temporary duty travel dollars.”
Most importantly, DAU’s virtual classes gave students the means to meet their certification requirements as planned, she said.
FUTURE VIRTUAL EDUCATION Te COVID-19 pandemic has given the Army the opportunity to reassess how its trains its workforce, but the unique chal- lenges of distance learning still need to
be addressed. As Clark mentioned, some students prefer the resident experience because it provides more focus and inter- action. And Soldiers will always need resident military education and training of some kind because their experience isn’t purely academic.
However, the future of Army education could shift to a more virtual experience— so how do we do that?
With student-centered learning, said John Dillard, senior lecturer for systems engi- neering at the Naval Postgraduate School’s (NPS) Graduate School of Engineering and Applied Sciences.
Dillard has been teaching at NPS since 1994 and has run the DAU equivalency
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