SOUP’S ON: Technical terminology can sometimes feel like a digital alphabet soup, but the Army now offers tools to help its civilian workforce members increase their understanding of the latest tech. (Photo by Ruslan Khmelevsky, Pexels)
Udemy training provides a digital transformation solution for the acquisition workforce.
by Brianna Clay
What does the future acquisition workforce look like?
Tech-savvy, agile and digital.
A digital transformation of the acquisition workforce is necessary for the future, but this change can be difficult when the library of digital buzzwords grows more confusing every day, from “AI” and “machine learning” to “agile contracting” and “DevOps.” To many, these terms are just another ingredient in the digital alphabet soup, yet this soup will sustain the future of our workforce.
With a plethora of information being thrown at them, how do acquisition professionals begin to make sense of this digital soup? Just look toward Udemy and the new digital foundations pathway training designed to digitally upskill the acquisition workforce. The training includes three prioritized courses required for all acquisition-coded employees under the assistant secretary of the Army for acquisition, logistics and technology (ASA(ALT)), including the U.S. Army Acquisition Support Center and all program executive offices. The three courses are Digital Transformation 2023 – Masterclass, The Agile Samurai Bootcamp and The Product Management for AI and Data Science Course. The training will require approximately 14 hours to complete. Three additional subjects are also recommended—take beginner or foundation courses in agile, DevOps and cloud foundations; data foundations and human-centered design foundations. Together, these courses are designed to help digitally transform the acquisition workforce.
FINDING THE RIGHT RECIPE
Digital transformation first came to the fore of acquisition in 2019 when the Army began a major push to modernize the Army of 2035. “As an Army, we are going to go through this cultural shift,” said Maj. Megan M. Pekol-Evans, functional area 51 proponency officer at the Army Director of Acquisition Career Management (DACM) Office. This shift involves not only employing artificial intelligence, or AI, and machine learning into the development of weapons but also figuring out a way for people to apply that in their daily lives to make work easier and more efficient. To do this, people need these new tools, but “you can’t use these new tools if you don’t understand them,” said Pekol-Evans. “That’s what digital transformation, especially at the human capital level, is trying to get at. You have to understand these concepts to apply them.”
The Army needed a training solution to prepare the acquisition workforce for this shift, and Young Bang, principal deputy ASA(ALT), lead the search for a solution. Bang tasked the deputy assistant secretary of the Army for data, engineering and software (DASA DES) and the DACM Office with ensuring the acquisition workforce remains digitally relevant, with the DACM Office taking responsibility for upskilling workers. Working together, the team was able to identify the skills most important for digital transformation and the suitability of the Udemy Business platform.
LEARNING TIME
To access the Udemy courses, first go to armyciv.udemy.com and enter your army.mil email address. Complete the email verification, fill out the required registration information and then you’re ready to start learning. (Image by USAASC)
“One of the reasons we decided to partner with Udemy is that we can use it for what we want, digital pathways, but it also now opens up a wealth of information and opportunity for anybody trying to use it,” said Scott Greene, chief of the Strategy and Communication Division at the DACM Office. Udemy is an education technology company that the Army has partnered with to provide an online platform for learning and business training. The platform offers a broad library of technical and non-technical video courses.
When searching for a digital training solution, the DACM Office discovered that around 200,000 Udemy licenses were being underutilized by the Army Civilian Career Management Activity (ACCMA). With the green light from ACCMA, the DACM Office could populate all acquisition workforce members, both civilian and military, into these open slots. DASA DES and the DACM Office then identified what types of competencies were important for the acquisition workforce in the digital space. Using these criteria, the team curated relevant digital content on the platform, identifying prioritized and recommended courses for training. This design of Udemy’s platform allows all acquisition employees on the list to access curated content through the training pathway already connected to their accounts.
Once this pathway was established in Udemy, the team pitched it to the digital transformation executive board that Bang leads. The pitch was a success, and the new Udemy digital foundations pathway training was launched on March 9.
LEARNING THE DIGITAL INGREDIENTS
Although the training is currently only required for workforce members under the ASA(ALT) umbrella, it is highly encouraged for all acquisition professionals. The Digital Transformation 2023 – Masterclass course would be especially helpful for those working in the acquisition sphere, according to Pekol-Evans. Because the courses help simplify and explain terms that are frequently used in more technical fields, workforce members gain an awareness of the current digital technology landscape.
“Technology is evolving so quickly, and the acquisition processes aren’t quick,” said Greene. “We’re ensuring that the workforce, at all levels and all functional areas, is aware of the latest and greatest technologies that are out there and how to infuse them into what each and every one of us does—making us more agile and better capable of getting the warfighter what they need.”
Each of the three prioritized courses is designed to give the learner a baseline for digital transformation concepts. The courses focus on understanding product management and how these new digital concepts and processes bring value to the customer. The Udemy platform uses a customer-centric business-focused model, but in the acquisition workforce, the customer is the warfighter. “Many of us in the world of acquisition are not engineers,” said Pekol-Evans, “but this enables you to go toe-to-toe at some level with vendors and warfighters.”
These courses also count for continuous learning points (CLPs), helping workforce members fulfill the 40 CLPs they are required to complete every year and the 80 CLPs every two years. “Fourteen out of 80 is palatable, and it meets the course objectives of what we came up with, that every workforce member should need, with regard to digital literacy,” Greene said. With the addition of three other optional training topics, there are more than 30 total hours of training and CLPs.
In addition to the Udemy courses, there are several digital literacy courses curated by the Defense Acquisition University, and the DACM Office has partnered with Carnegie Mellon University to offer courses to higher-level officers and senior executives. While employees taking those courses may not be required to take the Udemy training, both are recommended.
DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION
The Army’s ambitious goals for the future require a digital transformation across the service. To make this possible, civilians will take training focused on agile software development, DevSecOps, cloud foundations, data science, machine learning, human-centered design, artificial intelligence and cyber security. (Photo by Polina Zimmerman, Pexels)
CONCLUSION
Because this is new, the team is including end-of-course surveys in each learning path to ensure that Udemy is the right solution.
“We’re trying to get this right,” emphasized Pekol-Evans. “This isn’t something where we just click the easy button [Udemy] and then leave it. We want to make sure we’re doing right by the workforce in digital literacy.”
Feedback ensures that this pathway to digital transformation succeeds. A successful transformation means a successful acquisition workforce, ensuring that the Army of 2035 is the lethal and agile force it needs to be.
To register or learn more about training through Udemy, go to https://armyciv.udemy.com/organization/home/. For more information on DACM Office civilian programs or acquisition career development opportunities, go to https://asc.army.mil/web/career-development/civilian.
BRIANNA CLAY is an Army Public Affairs Fellow and public affairs specialist at the U.S. Army Acquisition Support Center. She holds an M.S. in international affairs from the Georgia Institute of Technology and a B.A. in international affairs from the University of North Georgia.
