Department of Defense Strategic Plan for Advanced Distributed

Report to the 106

Congress

Department of Defense

Strategic Plan

for

Advanced Distributed Learning

April 30, 1999

Approved for Public Release; Distribution is unlimited

Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness

ODUSD(R), Readiness and Training

(703) 614-9524

Table of Contents

1.0 Overview

1.1 Introduction

1.2 Objective

2.0 Vision of the Future Learning Environment

2.1 Joint Vision 2010 / Future Operational Environment

2.2 Secretary’s Training Technology Vision

2.3 DoD Advanced Distributed Learning (ADL) Initiative

2.4 DoD Advanced Distributed Learning System (ADLS)

2.5 DoD Advanced Distributed Learning System Elements

2.6 DoD Advanced Distributed Learning Implementation Plan (ADLIP)

3.0 Status of the ADL Initiative

3.1 Advanced Distributed Learning Management Structure

3.2 ADL Initiative Co-Laboratory

3.3 Federal Forum

3.4 Industry Forum

3.5

Measurable Goals and Objectives

3.6

ADL Initiative Prototypes

3.7

Estimated Costs

3.8

Research Needs

3.9

International Military Sales Program

4.0 Department of Defense Distributed Learning Programs

4.1

Joint Distributed Learning Programs

4.1.1 Current Initiatives

4.1.2 Joint Doctrine Initiatives

4.1.3 Joint Command and Control Research Program (JC

RP)

4.1.4 Joint Deployment Training Center (JDTC)

4.2

Military Services Distributed Learning Programs

4.2.1 Army

4.2.2 Navy

4.2.3 Air Force

4.2.4 Marine Corps

4.3

Other Distributed Learning Programs

4.3.1

Defense Acquisition University (DAU)

4.3.2

Defense Logistics Agency (DLA)

4.3.3

Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA)

4.3.4

Department of Defense Educational Activity (DoDEA)

4.3.5

Director Central Intelligence (DCI)

4.3.6

National Security Agency (NSA)

4.3.7

Director of Military Support, Consequence Management Program

Integration Office (DOMS CoMPIO)

4.3.8

Defense Civilian Education, Training, and Operations

4.3.9

George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies

Next Steps - Implementation Plan

Appendices:

A Congressional Strategic Plan Requirement Language taken from the Strom

Thurmond National Defense Authorization Act for FY 1999

B Presidential Executive Order 13111, January 12, 1999, Subject: Using Technology

to Improve Training Opportunities for Federal Government Employees

C Secretary of Defense DoD Training Technology Vision, January 6, 1999

D Excerpts from Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Joint Vision 2010 and

Concept for Future Joint Operations - Expanding Joint Vision 2010

E Deputy Secretary of Defense memorandum for DoD components, November 23,

1998, Subject: Developing and Implementing the DoD Advanced Distributed

Learning (ADL) Initiative

F Presidential Executive Memorandum, January 30, 1998, Subject: Enhancing

Learning and Education Through Technology

G Glossary

1.0 Overview

Section 378 of Public Law 105-261, the Strom Thurmond National Defense Authorization

Act for Fiscal Year 1999 (hereafter, The Act), requires the Secretary of Defense to develop a

strategic plan for guiding and expanding distance learning initiatives within the Department of

Defense, to include a provision for the expansion of such initiatives over five consecutive years,

beginning in FY 2000 (Appendix A). Section 378 states that the Secretary may take into account

the ongoing collaborative effort, between the Department of Defense, other Federal agencies, and

private industry, that is known as the Advanced Distribut[ed] Learning Initiative, but that the

strategic plan must specifically focus on the education and training goals and objectives of the

Department of Defense.

The Strategic Plan (hereafter called the “Plan”) will include two parts: a Strategy; and later,

an Implementation Plan for carrying out the Strategy. This report provides the Strategy for using

distributed learning technologies across the Department of Defense (DoD) on a broad scale and is

DoD’s initial response to the direction from Congress. It also responds to directions, from the

Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) and the National Partnership for Reinventing

Government, to develop a strategy for advanced distributed learning.

For purposes of this report, “learning” encompasses the areas of education, training, and

performance aiding, and it addresses concepts and methodologies that can be used by the

Department, as well as other federal agencies, academia, and the private sector. These concepts and

methodologies were developed through collaboration within the Department and with other public-

sector, private-sector, academic, industrial, and government organizations.

The Strategy also is responsive to Executive Order 13111, Using Technology to Improve

Training Opportunities for Federal Government Employees, January 12, 1999 (Appendix B), and

to the vision statements provided by the Secretary of Defense (Appendix C) and the Chairman of

the Joint Chiefs of Staff (Appendix D). It draws on assemblies of experts on education and training

within the Department, who have met in multiple forums, including a landmark assembly hosted in

February 1999 by the Commander-in-Chief, U.S. Atlantic Command in Norfolk, Virginia. In

addition to addressing the training needs of today’s force, this requirements-based Strategy is

aimed at the projected training needs of the future force, both military and civilian. It is a

dynamic template, which uses the leadership of the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) to

guide DoD’s learning-related business processes as they evolve from today’s models to those

required for the future.

The expected outcomes of OSD’s leadership include: a coherent Department-wide

Implementation Plan; supporting policies, guidelines, and programs that are based on

cooperation, collaboration, shared research and development, prototypes, and test beds; and

avoidance of unnecessary redundancies. This Strategy provides a framework for developing a

DoD Implementation Plan designed to institutionalize advanced distributed learning through the

promulgation of advanced distributed learning master plans by each of the DoD Components.

To provide a framework for understanding advanced distributed learning in the Department

of Defense, this report uses the following definitions:

•

Learning is the acquisition of knowledge, skills, and attitudes through the integration of

education, training, and performance aiding in a comprehensive, mutually supportive

system.

•

Distributed (also referred to as distance) learning is structured learning that takes place

without the physical presence of the instructor. Distributed learning is enhanced with

technology. It may draw upon resources which are physically distant from the location

where learning is taking place and may include the use of one or more of the following

media -- correspondence course materials, audio/videotapes, CD ROMs,

audio/videoteletraining, interactive television, and video conferencing -- to provide

right-time, right-place learning.

•

Advanced distributed learning leverages the full power of computer, information, and

communication technologies through the use of common standards in order to provide

learning that can be tailored to individual needs and delivered anytime-anywhere.

Advanced distributed learning also includes establishing an interoperable “computer-

managed instruction” environment that supports the needs of developers, learners,

instructors, administrators, managers, and family. Advanced distributed learning

encompasses all the methodologies mentioned above, and in addition, includes ongoing

and expected improvements in learning methodologies.

1.1 Introduction

. Following the Persian Gulf War of 1991, Congress reviewed the readiness

of Reserve component (RC) forces. General Accounting Office (GAO) studies and Service

testimony added to a perception that RC units required additional access to education and training

opportunities to achieve a greater degree of readiness than was judged available when they were

called to Operation Desert Storm. The OSD Readiness and Training Office initiated the (then)

Total Force Distance Learning Action Team to focus on Reserve component training needs. In the

early 1990’s, Congress authorized and appropriated significant funds for National Guard use in

building prototype electronic classrooms and learning networks to provide increased access to

learning opportunities by the National Guard. Congress continues to fund the expansion of

distributed learning programs for the National Guard.

In 1998, motivated principally by the progress made by the Department of Defense

Advanced Distributed Learning (ADL) Initiative, by the Army National Guard, and by other federal

agencies (e.g., the Department of Labor), the OSTP moved to consolidate federal efforts via a

Federal Training Technology Initiative (FTTI). The FTTI’s learning technology vision

encompasses a number of national electronic learning initiatives geared toward using the power of

learning technologies to broaden the reach of educators and trainers who are faced with the

daunting challenge of moving America’s work force into the Information Age. Following the

Lifelong Learning Summit hosted by the Vice President on January 12, 1999, the President signed

Executive Order 13111, Using Technology to Improve Training Opportunities for Federal

Government Employees. Among other things, the Executive Order directed the Department of

Defense to take the federal lead in developing learning technology standards in collaboration with

academia, industry, and other government agencies.

In 1998, Congress again reviewed the status of military readiness, following concerns

expressed by the Commanders in Chief (CINCs), the Services, and the Joint Staff about troubling

indicators within the Active components. Recognizing today’s broad Internet usage and the

progress that had already been made incorporating the power of learning technologies -- by the

Army National Guard, academia, industry, and Congress -- Congress directed the Department of

Defense to draft a Strategic Plan for bringing advanced distributed learning to the Total Force.

1.2 Objective

. The objective of the DoD Strategic Plan for Advanced Distributed Learning is

to meet the learning needs of the U.S. Armed Forces in the future and to provide direction and

focus to programs that respond to their requirements. This Strategy portion of the Plan:

•

Places the DoD’s “training vision” in perspective;

•

Describes the ADL Initiative, including its conceptual underpinnings, management

structure, and status;

•

Identifies and explains selected DoD and supporting distributed learning programs

already under way; and

•

Highlights “next steps” that will be integral to the Implementation Plan.

The framework for the Strategy is shaped in large part by the Secretary’s and Chairman’s vision

statements, Executive Order 13111, and several congressional taskings. They provide the “why.”

This Strategy and its companion Implementation Plan provide the “who, what, how, and when.”

2.0

Vision of the Future Learning Environment

Training and learning models developed for the 21

century revolve around two new

concepts: the learning organization and advanced delivery systems.

A learning organization continuously enhances and expands its collective capabilities to

create better results in order to meet mission requirements. It includes several notions: learning is

the bridge from information to understanding; learning is most effective when coupled to

experience; learning leads to changes in thinking and behavior; and learning requires time for

reflection and integration.

Effective delivery of learning using new network-based, modular content and modern

telecommunications tools must take into account what we have discovered about human learning.

The future capabilities needed in our Armed Forces are most clearly defined in the Secretary of

Defense’s Training Technology Vision (Appendix C) and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff

Joint Vision 2010 (JV 2010) (Appendix D).

2.1 Joint Vision 2010 / Future Operational Environment

. JV 2010 provides the conceptual

template for how we will channel the vitality of our people and leverage technological opportunities

to achieve new levels of effectiveness in joint warfighting. Future forces must be capable of

providing:

•

precision engagement of highly complex targets, anywhere and anytime;

•

dominant maneuver of agile forces against any adversary or any terrain;

•

focused logistics for delivery of just-in-time support, anywhere and anytime; and,

•

full-dimensional protection against any threat, at all times.

The Armed Forces of the future must be able to fight in joint, combined, and interagency

environments enabled by information superiority -- the gathering, processing, fusion, and

dissemination of more accurate and timely information and knowledge, anywhere, anytime, every

time.

In tomorrow’s dynamic threat environment, America’s forces may have to deploy on a

moment’s notice, often to conduct operations that cannot be adequately predicted and for which

they have not planned or practiced. Future forces must be highly adaptive, learning forces that

organize to meet threats effectively and rapidly. They must continuously learn, simulate, and

rehearse, whether they are in school, at home station, at home, en route to, or in the theater of

operations.

America’s military forces have a long tradition and a well-deserved reputation of providing

world-class education and training. For example, having highly educated and trained service

members was a key to our overwhelming success in Operation Desert Storm. It is noteworthy that

many of these warriors trained in the same classrooms which prepared their grandfathers for World

War II. These venerable facilities were in the right place at the right time to support all of the

nation’s major mobilizations throughout the industrial age.

While yesterday’s right-time, right-place learning paradigm met yesterday’s military

requirements, it can not meet future requirements based on more demanding deployment criteria

and other time-sensitive constraints. Providing anytime-anywhere instruction is a key to

maintaining military readiness in the information age and one of our foremost priorities. While

U.S. Armed Forces are the most capable in the world today, meeting the more complex readiness

needs of the future will require the Department of Defense to re-engineer its ability to deliver

learning to an anytime-anywhere objective.

2.2 Secretary of Defense’s Training Technology Vision.

To meet the learning requirements

of the future force, the Secretary of Defense issued his training technology vision, “to ensure that

DoD personnel have access to the highest quality education and training that can be tailored to their

needs and delivered cost effectively, anytime and anywhere” (Appendix C). To achieve the vision,

anytime-anywhere learning must be distributed, just-in-time and on-demand, and enabled with

resourced development and exploitation of learning technologies.

The strategic shift from learning solely in the central classroom to learning in the unit,

where and when required -- while maintaining quality -- can ensure higher readiness and improve

the mission availability of personnel. The indicators of success for the distributed learning

investment are measurable, in terms of improved unit cohesion, increased availability for

operations, and increased operational readiness stemming from unit management of learning assets

throughout the Department.

2.3 DoD Advanced Distributed Learning (ADL) Initiative

. The Department, in the

Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR) of 1996, decided to develop a Department-wide strategy to

harness the power of learning and information technologies to modernize education and training.

The strategy is called the Advanced Distributed Learning (ADL) Initiative. The ADL Initiative

sets forth a new paradigm intended to implement the Secretary’s training vision -- to provide

access to the highest quality education and training that can be tailored to individual needs and

delivered cost-effectively, whenever and wherever it is required. Importantly, the Initiative’s

underpinnings and applications are germane not only to the Department of Defense, but to other

government organizations, academia, and the private sector, as well. The ADL Initiative,

therefore, is a structured, adaptive, collaborative effort between the public and private sectors to

develop the standards, tools, and learning content for the future learning environment.

The Department of Defense’s vision is to harness the power of the Internet and other virtual

or private wide-area networks (WANs) to deliver high-quality learning. It brings together

intelligent tutors, distributed subject matter experts, real-time in-depth learning management, and a

diverse array of support tools to ensure a responsive, high-quality “learner-centric” system. As

stated earlier, advanced distributed learning does not exclude any existing delivery method. In

some cases, it may expand and complement legacy delivery systems.

One of the concerns expressed by Combatant Commands is the challenge of having to send

their service members away from their units to satisfy education and training requirements. The

accelerating pace of technological change in weapons systems further complicates this challenge.

These concerns, and the ever-growing complexity of modern weapon systems, demand that we re-

engineer our military education and training systems to take advantage of information-age

technologies. The advanced distributed learning strategy provides a means of meeting the readiness

requirements of the JV 2010 environment. It will support enhanced readiness, help offset strains

caused by high operational (OPTEMPO) and personnel (PERSTEMPO) rates, compensate for the

complexity of future systems and operations, and extend the availability and augment the

effectiveness of present education and training systems for the entire Department. The advanced

distributed learning strategy is also appropriate in delivering learning opportunities for civilian

personnel, as well as for kindergarten through high school programs for military dependents being

educated in DoD schools.

The nature of the advanced distributed learning strategy recognizes the existence of

traditional impediments and barriers to change. Independent systems, proprietary processes, and

lack of interoperability can delay implementation and reduce return on investment. One of the

biggest issues in the cost-benefit analysis of advanced distributed learning is that, under current

accounting systems, organizations making the investment in learning often are not the

organizations which are reaping the benefits. Unless the Department removes such structural

counter-incentives, they will be certain to impede progress.

The advanced distributed learning strategy requires re-engineering the learning paradigm

from a “classroom-centric” model to an increasingly “learner-centric” model, and re-engineering

the learning business process from a “factory model” (involving mainly large education and

training institutions) to a more network-centric “information-age model” which incorporates

anytime-anywhere learning.

The purpose is not to replace the entire classroom model of training and education within

the Department of Defense. There will always be a place for such instruction. The aim is to

provide for the distribution of as much learning as possible while maintaining the Service-

directed standards for quantity and quality of instruction.

Academia, industry, and some elements of government have already begun the process

and are experiencing promising results. The ADL Initiative proposes to leverage commercial

off-the-shelf (COTS) software and successful public, private, academic, and industrial initiatives

for the benefit of the Department. Department of Defense organizations and doctrines for

learning will co-evolve along with a robust DoD Advanced Distributed Learning System to meet

the requirements of our future military forces. Many current systems and approaches, such as

centralized basic training, will continue as they are taught today, which is appropriate.

Furthermore, advanced distributed learning is highly adaptable and can be applied to a great

variety of situations after initial-entry training.

2.4 DoD Advanced Distributed Learning System (ADLS).

This DoD Strategic Plan for

Advanced Distributed Learning describes how DoD will go about building and implementing the

DoD Advanced Distributed Learning System (ADLS). As mentioned at the outset, the Strategic

Plan has two elements – a “strategy,” as described in this report, and an “implementation plan”

which is being developed and will be provided in the future.

2.4.1 Strategy

. In short, the strategy is to: pursue emerging network-based technologies; create

common standards that will enable reuse and interoperability of learning content; lower

development costs; promote widespread collaboration that can satisfy common needs; enhance

performance with next-generation learning technologies; work closely with industry to influence the

COTS product development cycle; and establish a coordinated implementation process. It is

designed to deliver efficient and effective high-quality learning continuously to Department of

Defense personnel anytime-anywhere. As shown in Figure 1, implementation will yield the desired

end-state, the DoD Advanced Distributed Learning System (ADLS).

Advanced Distributed Learning

Integrated networked systems

Interoperable platforms

Reusable learning objects

Widespread collaboration

Global knowledge databases

Intelligent tutoring systems

Performance aiding

Digital knowledge repositories

Internet-based instruction

Virtual libraries

Simulations

Virtual classrooms

Correspondence courses

+Legacy Systems

Classroom

Instructor led

Technology insertion

Distance/Distributed Learning

Videoteletraining

Embedded training

Computer conferencing

Interactive television

Electronic classrooms

Interactive Multimedia

Computer-based training

Audiographics

+Legacy Systems

Anytime-Anywhere

Learning

Right-Time, Right-

Place Learning

ADL INITIATIVE

Figure 1. The DoD Advanced Distributed Learning System Continuum/ Architecture

Audio-tapes/Video-tapes

2.4.2 End State

. The ADLS end-state envisions universal use of instructional components that

are characterized by:

•

accessibility from any location, remote or local;

•

interoperability between all advanced distributed learning instructional platforms,

media, and tools;

•

durability to withstand base technology changes without significant recoding or

redesign;

•

reusability between applications, platforms, and tools; and,

•

cost effectiveness to provide significant increases in learning and readiness per net

increment in time or cost.

ADLS will provide a unified “system of systems” for use by all DoD personnel. ADLS will

enable the Department to move the appropriate DoD learning from the present paradigm

(predominantly classroom-based learning) into truly anytime-anywhere learning as called for in

various taskings. Up to this point, Service plans have emphasized a right-time, right-place

approach to learning which exploits electronic classrooms, computer-based training, and

videoteletraining. State-of-the-art communications now allows the Services to evolve their training

programs to exploit network-based training to meet multi-Service, joint, interagency, and coalition

needs.

The DoD ADLS will address the needs of the Total Force, and will incorporate distributed

or virtual Service Centers of Excellence, Joint Centers of Excellence, geographically-dispersed or

mobile learners, interoperable platforms and software, integrated adaptive networks, distributed

management and support sub-systems, and a positive “learner-centric” culture. Joint and Service

Centers of Excellence include existing classrooms, which will continue to be used, as they evolve

their capabilities to develop, launch, support, and archive advanced distributed courseware.

Integrated adaptive networks, interoperable platforms, databases, and related software will

be developed and configured to ensure transparent access and use of appropriate and authorized

courseware anytime-anywhere. ADLS management and support sub-systems will be decentralized

and, because they will be interoperable, will ensure continuous global access to registration, testing,

record keeping, business-process, and expert-help functions. The DoD ADLS will help change the

way in which learning is viewed. It will lead to a “learner-centric” culture and will help ensure that

officially required learning is an acceptable and flexibly scheduled portion of the duty day, without

penalizing quality of life or long-term health, fitness, and well-being.

2.5 DoD Advanced Distributed Learning System Elements

. There are five elements needed

to develop and successfully implement the ADLS:

•

common industry standards;

•

interoperable tools and content;

•

a robust and dynamic network infrastructure for distribution;

•

supporting resources; and,

•

cultural change at all levels of command, recognizing that learning is an official

requirement of the duty day.

These elements will be addressed at the policy level in this Strategy and at the operational

level in the Implementation Plan.

2.5.1 Standards and Interoperable Content

. The Department of Defense is a pioneer in

advanced distributed learning. DoD’s influence and willingness to collaborate with industry and

academia have contributed to making the market place for courseware-development software both

prolific and competitive. This may help mitigate problems traditionally caused by software

packages predating the development of industry standards. As potentially one of the largest users of

courseware-development, delivery, storage, and management systems, the Department of Defense

can influence industry trends. To meet Department-wide needs, there must be standards for

courseware interoperability, that are compatible among tool vendors and that do not sacrifice

quality, transparency of operations, or efficiency of storage, manipulation, and management.

2.5.2 Network Infrastructure.

A fully operational ADLS will require a robust data and video

network infrastructure between the decentralized databases and repositories for digital courseware

and geographically-dispersed or mobile learners. That network infrastructure must be interoperable

between force components, echelons, delivery platforms, and user terminals. The network

infrastructure must be compliant with the Department’s Joint Technical Architecture (JTA), should

be transparent to courseware developers, administrators, users, and managers, and should build on

the existing infrastructure.

2.5.3 Supporting Resources.

Resources required to achieve the ADLS end-state include not

only network demands, but also individual access to the World-Wide Web and to an Internet-

capable computer for every DoD user. Greater emphasis must be placed on the conversion of

traditional classroom courseware to a form that is consistent with emerging standards of

interoperability and reuse. Infrastructure at existing Joint and Service education and training

centers may need to be re-engineered to support a migration to Centers of Excellence for advanced

distributed learning.

2.5.4 Cultural Change

. A successful ADLS will require a change of culture. The challenge for

DoD leadership will be to provide appropriate learning opportunities throughout the duty day. For

Reserve components, including both individuals and units, sufficient training time must be made

available during normal unit training time or during additional periods of training in a paid status.

Having recognized the importance of this, the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Reserve Affairs

has established a team to examine existing policy and law relating to training time utilization and, if

necessary, recommend changes. The intent is to clearly identify the acceptability of completion of

collective and individual training and/or educational requirements via advanced distributed learning

methodologies and to authorize awarding credit and/or compensation, when appropriate. Learning

that enhances the readiness of Department personnel must not be viewed as an additional or a

personal-time responsibility for DoD employees. A similar change of culture will be required of

the trainers, instructors, and administrators of traditional classroom-based institutions. Adapting to

the new advanced distributed learning environment will require new knowledge and skills. In the

final analysis, the strength of the Department of Defense is its people. It is DoD’s responsibility to

ensure that learning enhances their professional and collective readiness and individual quality of

life.

When implemented, the ADLS will provide a comprehensive learning environment

appropriate to meet existing and emerging national security challenges. Furthermore, ADLS

presents an opportunity to strengthen learning in interagency and coalition contexts.

2.6

DoD Advanced Distributed Learning Implementation Plan (ADLIP)

. The companion

to this Strategy is the DoD Advanced Distributed Learning Implementation Plan (ADLIP). It will

be developed by July 30, 1999, as directed by Section 8104 of the FY 1999 National Defense

Appropriations Act.

3.0 Status of the ADL Initiative

In a memorandum dated November 23, 1998 (Appendix E), the Deputy Secretary of

Defense directed the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness (USD(P&R)) to lead

the Department’s ADL Initiative by working with the Services, Joint Staff, and other DoD

Components to produce a policy for developing and implementing advanced distributed learning

technologies across the Department. He also tasked USD(P&R), in coordination with the Services,

Joint Staff, and DoD Components, to develop an advanced distributed learning “master plan” that

addresses the plans, programs, and procedures necessary to carry out the policy, and to work with

the Under Secretaries of Defense for Acquisition and Technology (USD(A&T)) and the

Comptroller (USD(C)), to ensure that sufficient programs and resources are made available to

implement that plan. The Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Readiness (DUSD(R)) was given

authority and responsibility to coordinate policy oversight of these efforts.

3.1 Advanced Distributed Learning Management Structure.

DUSD(R) is working with the

Office of the Secretary of Defense, Services, Joint Staff, and DoD Components to establish a

management forum for coordination of advanced distributed learning programs within the

Department. Figure 2 depicts a three-tier structure to organize and coordinate technical,

Executive Steering Group

Services, Joint Staff, OSD

DUSD-Readiness

Industry Forum

Total Force

Distributed Learning

Action Team

Content Collaboration

Federal Forum

ADL Co-Laboratory

Common Standards

Prototype Development

Common Tools

Figure 2.

Advanced Distributed Learning Management Structure

programmatic, and policy considerations associated with the use of advanced distributed learning

technologies in the Department. This structure will guide the development and implementation

of advanced distributed learning policies and programs.

3.1.1

Executive Steering Group (ESG)

. The ESG will be chaired by DUSD(R) and

will be composed of a General/Flag Officer or Senior Executive Service representative from:

•

Each Service, who represents both Active and Reserve components;

•

Joint Staff (J7); the Office of the Secretary of Defense (with representatives from the

Offices of the Comptroller, Chief Information Officer, Acquisition and Technology

(Director Defense Research and Engineering, and Logistics), Reserve Affairs, Command,

Control and Communications, Civilian Personnel Policy, and others, as appropriate).

Each of these representatives should be able to represent the education, training, funding, and

operational requirements of his or her organization, and each should be vested with the authority

to represent the policies and programs of their organizations.

3.1.2 Total Force Distributed Learning Action Team (TFDLAT)

. The TFDLAT is the

working body supporting the ESG. A DUSD(R) representative chairs the TFDLAT, which has

membership from each Service, Reserve component, the Joint Staff, OSD, and Defense

Agencies. The TFDLAT advises and assists the Secretary of Defense, Joint Staff, Services, and

Defense Agencies on all aspects of advanced distributed learning. Again, the goal is to ensure

that DoD personnel have access to highest quality education and training that can be tailored to

their needs and delivered cost effectively, anytime, anywhere. The TFDLAT:

•

Serves as the DoD focal point for advanced distributed learning practices and procedures;

•

Provides oversight of advanced distributed learning courseware development and

implementation;

•

Provides a forum for discussion and resolution of practical issues in advanced distributed

learning;

•

Drafts, reviews, researches, evaluates, coordinates, and recommends polices for the ESG;

•

Recommends funding and research and development priorities; and,

•

Promotes collaboration.

3.1.3 Technical Working Groups.

The TFDLAT has established several Technical Working

Groups to coordinate consistent policies and procedures in key areas, such as technical and

administrative standards, collaborative development, content sharing, interoperable computer-

management systems, and prototype development and assessments. While showing promise, work

in each of these areas is at a very early stage of development.

3.2

ADL Initiative Co-Laboratory.

DUSD(R) is establishing an ADL Co-Laboratory that

will provide an open forum for collaborative development and assessment of technical standards,

prototypes, and associated tools in support of Defense needs. It will foster the development,

dissemination, and maintenance of guidelines, tools, methodologies, and policies for cost-

effective use of advanced distributed learning and will facilitate resource sharing across the

Department, other Federal agencies, and the private sector. It will also support research and

documentation of the capabilities, limitations, costs, benefits, and effectiveness of advanced

distributed learning.

3.3 Federal Forum.

DUSD(R) serves as the focal point for DoD participation on the Federal

Training Technology Task Force established by Executive Order 13111 (Appendix B). Under

Section 4.(c) of the Executive Order, the Department is directed to:

•

In consultation with the National Institute of Standards and Technology, lead Federal

participation in business and academic organizations charged with developing consensus

standards for training software and associated services;

•

Lead the Federal review of standards; and,

•

Provide guidance to Defense Agencies and advise the civilian agencies, as appropriate, on

how best to use these standards for large-scale development and implementation of

efficient and effective advanced distributed learning technologies.

3.4

Industry Forum.

DUSD(R) personnel are collaborating with the private sector through

the EDUCAUSE Forum -- a consortium of over 500 academia, industry, and government members.

This forum is developing common specifications that will provide a capability to achieve

interoperability and reuse of learning content across industry, academia, and government.

3.5

Measurable Goals and Objectives.

The identification and selection of specific goals,

objectives and guidelines, with metrics to monitor advanced distributed learning program

accomplishments, will be key elements addressed in developing the Implementation Plan.

3.5.1 Near-Term.

The near-term goals of the ADL Initiative are to develop and assess

advanced distributed learning prototypes that exploit existing technologies in order to

demonstrate the capability to provide learning on demand (anytime, anywhere) that is consistent

with stated functional requirements and that supports the Joint Warfighters’ evolution to the

operational environment of JV 2010.

3.5.2 Mid-Term

. The mid-term goals are to research and develop more powerful tools and

techniques that significantly improve the cost and learning effectiveness of current learning

methodologies.

3.5.3 Long-Term.

Longer range goals are to implement a fully functioning ADLS that supports

the full-range of JV 2010 learning needs, while reducing OPTEMPO/PERSTEMPO and increasing

the readiness of the force as reflected in the Commands’ Joint Military Readiness Report

submissions to the CJCS and the Secretary of Defense. Assessments of advanced distributed

learning prototypes will conform with widely accepted scientific techniques for determining cost

and learning effectiveness, relative to traditional education and training techniques. These

assessments will be organized and coordinated by the ADL Co-Laboratory, working closely with

the Joint Staff, Services, Combatant Commands, and Defense Agencies. Where appropriate,

results of evaluations will be shared with the public and private sectors.

3.6 ADL Initiative Prototypes.

There are four ADL Initiative prototype models

currently under development and several others in the early planning stages.

3.6.1 Performance Mentoring Model.

The Naval Aviation community is collaborating with

General Motors to adapt and re-purpose, for military use in DoD aviation diagnostics and repair,

a performance mentoring technology tool which was developed by General Motors for use in its

Cadillac division. The objective of this prototype is to demonstrate how COTS technology can

be used to provide low-cost, yet highly effective, on-the-job learning and performance mentoring

for H-1 Helicopter maintenance technicians. The Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for

Logistics (DUSD(L)) is providing funds (from the commercial technology for maintenance

activities area) to encourage collaborative development and reuse of common technology,

software, and methodology by the Navy, Army, and Marine Corps. Initial assessment of this

prototype commenced in March of 1999. If successful, it is anticipated that the Services will

fund expansion of this prototype to other DoD weapon systems.

3.6.2

On-line School Model.

The Defense Acquisition University (DAU) has launched a

major initiative to modernize its classroom-based acquisition training by converting to Web-

based training using best business practices and industry benchmarks. Currently, five courses are

available online. Using one course as an example (Acquisition 101, Simplified Acquisition

Procedures (SAP)), the DAU’s modernization efforts reduced instructor-student ratios, annually

eliminating $3 million in travel costs and returning 92 workyears back to the Defense

Acquisition Workforce Improvement Act (DAWIA) workforce. This customer-centered

initiative provides the DAWIA workforce with just-in-time education opportunities distributed

through various learning technologies.

3.6.3

Joint Doctrine Training Model.

The Joint Staff developed an ADL Initiative Prototype

that provides joint doctrine education and training via the Internet. The objective is to provide

high quality joint doctrine to the Total Force – anytime, anywhere. This prototype has been used

by military personnel in Bosnia in order to gain an understanding of Joint Task Force operations.

Additional modules are currently under development, including a Crisis Action Planning Course

that uses web-based intelligent tutor technology to train staffs in Joint Task Force (JTF)

Operations.

3.6.4

Combatant Command Training Model

. The U.S. Atlantic Command’s Joint

Warfighting Center (JWFC) has developed an ADL Initiative prototype in its Joint Distributed

Learning Center (JDLC) that can provide JTF Commander and Staff training via the Internet.

The objective of the JDLC is to provide a comprehensive source of joint web-based training and

review opportunities for command staff members preparing to participate in joint training

exercises and real-world operations, in accordance with the joint mission essential tasks of the

supported Commander in Chief (CINC). The prototype was developed using real-world events

and joint exercises conducted at USACOM’s Joint Training, Analysis and Simulation Center

(JTASC). JWFC Observer/Trainer personnel have also used this prototype during Mobile

Training Team visits to Kuwait; Naples, Italy; and Stuttgart, Germany at the request of the U.S.

Central Command and U.S. European Command. The JDLC prototype will be developed to

include emerging learning technologies, techniques, methodologies, and standards.

3.7 Estimated Costs.

DUSD(R) personnel are working with DoD Components and the

DoD Comptroller to build a comprehensive estimate of the investment needed to develop and

maintain advanced distributed learning programs and systems within the Department. Initial

indications are that the Services are programming funds to develop and deliver learning via

multiple technology means. The ADLIP will provide a detailed assessment of requirements and

investments by each DoD Component.

3.8 Research Needs.

DUSD(R) personnel are working with the Director of Defense

Research and Engineering and other DoD Components to develop a robust research and

development program (R&D) that supports the goals and objectives of the ADL Initiative.

Overall reductions to the Defense Science and Technology base over the last ten years have

reduced the total amount of funding available for learning technology research (i.e., “training and

education”) to less than one percent of the Science and Technology component of the total R&D

budget. Additional emphasis on collaborative research across the Department and across the

public and private sectors will be required to develop, assess, and implement the tools,

techniques, and systems needed to support the JV 2010 Vision of anytime-anywhere learning.

3.9 International Military Sales Program

. America has an opportunity and obligation to

export its curricula for democratic use of military and political power to the emerging democracies

of the world. Presidential Decision Directives and the National Military Strategy also call for the

Department of Defense to export its expertise in nation building, national security, military strategy,

tactics, and operational art. The ADLS can contribute to this obligation while simultaneously

developing a revenue stream to assist in further ADLS development.

The ADLS represents a unique opportunity to supplement Military Assistance and

multinational initiatives, including the Partnership for Peace (PfP), North Atlantic Treaty

Organization (NATO), the Technical Cooperation Program, and others, to export appropriate

military learning while recouping a reasonable fee for use. The revenues generated by this portion

of the ADLS should be returned to support learning technology programs, which will provide

further savings in development, conversion, and updating of the backlog of courseware required,

but unfunded, for use by the deployed warfighter.

The standards and protocols being established through the ADL Initiative embody existing

international standards for training technologies, such as the ISO 9000 standard, now required in

most European communities.

4.0 Department of Defense Distributed Learning Programs

4.1 Joint Distributed Learning Programs.

The Joint Staff oversees the Joint Professional

Military Education (JPME) System. Policy for JPME and interfaces to Service Professional

Military Education (PME) Systems are contained in Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (CJCS)

Instruction CJCSI 1800.01, the “OPMEP.” The Joint Staff also oversees the Joint Training

System via CJSCI 3500-01A, Joint Training System Policy for the Armed Forces of the United

States. Finally, the Joint Staff oversees the Joint Command, Control, Communications,

Computers, and Intelligence (C

I) Education and Training System, which includes special

programs at the Naval Postgraduate School, the Armed Forces Staff College, and the National

Defense University. All programs are designed to support integration of learning for JV 2010

and warfighter requirements.

4.1.1 Current Initiatives

. A number of Joint initiatives are relative to the ADLS. Among these

are the Distributed Joint Training Initiative

(DJTI) and the Joint Virtual Learning Environment

(JVLE). These two architectures are designed to integrate joint training (DJTI) and joint education

(JVLE) across the learning spectrum, providing DoD Components transparent, efficient, and timely

global access to knowledge.

4.1.1.1 Distributed Joint Training Initiative (DJTI)

. The CJCS has directed U.S. Atlantic

Command (ACOM) to lead the development of a distributed training architecture that will

enhance the training of U.S. forces in joint and Service tactics, techniques, and procedures while

reducing the OPTEMPO/PERSTEMPO related to training globally distributed forces. The

architectural framework includes all information technology services supporting training and

various training enabling strategies, such as the ADL Initiative, and follows the guidelines used

by the C

I community. The foundation of DJTI is a robust communications infrastructure, digital

libraries, training management tools, modeling and simulation tools, and collaboration and

planning tools. The vision of distributed joint training is to integrate and shape related DoD

initiatives, programs, and operational requirements in order to link Service and joint programs

for worldwide warfighter participation in joint training--on demand. The importance of DJTI to

the advanced distributed learning effort cannot be overemphasized, since the Department must

first establish the infrastructure that will allow it to deliver training applications, tools, and

products.

USACOM’s JWFC uses the JTASC to conduct major JTF Commander and Staff exercises,

as well as to host other technical initiatives which have a variety of applications. The Joint Digital

Library System (JDLS) uses COTS technologies to capture (in a digital data base), index, and

distribute materials via the World-Wide Web (WWW). These include but are not limited to

documents, publications, lessons learned, exercise data, and C

I content from ACOM exercises and

real-world activities. Applications which use the JDLS for training, exercises, future rehearsals,

and analysis include the JDLC, the Joint Exercise Management Program, and the Joint Center for

Lessons Learned, as well as other JWFC initiatives.

4.1.1.2 Joint Virtual Learning Environment (JVLE)

. This initiative flows from the ongoing

CJCS-directed JPME 2010 study. The National Defense University (NDU) and the Joint Staff are

exploring prototype development of an education architecture which integrates all joint and Service

Professional Military Education (PME) institutions (e.g., National Defense University, National

War College, Army War College, etc.). JVLE extends the power of knowledge from a campus to

the operational commander. The JVLE will provide an architecture to push information to and pull

information from PME sources, push operational simulations to the PME institutions for near-real

time student/faculty analysis, meet operational reach-back needs, and support continuous updating

of PME instruction.

4.1.2 Joint Doctrine Initiatives

4.1.2.1 Joint Electronic Library.

The Joint Staff has developed a Joint Electronic Library

(JEL) which is available through the Internet. The JEL contains over 10,000 digital files,

including all joint doctrine publications, CJCS Instructions, key Service publications, and a host

of other reference documents. The JEL web site is among the most popular and often-used joint

sites in the Department of Defense, with over six million visitors per year.

The next evolution of the JEL is the Joint Doctrine Electronic Information System (JDEIS),

which is currently under development. The JDEIS is envisioned as an organized multimedia

interactive information system containing a database of doctrine, which is linked electronically to

the Universal Joint Task List, selected CJCS instructions and manuals, lessons learned, historical

collections, future concepts, the DoD dictionary, and other related doctrinal materials and

references, such as USACOM’s JDLS. It will also include a sizable amount of complementary

research, audio, video, and other multimedia material. JDEIS will be rapidly accessible by the

entire military community from the Internet and other selected Defense information networks. The

JDEIS is intended to be a joint doctrinal information and awareness tool to provide information to

members of all Services and to other government agencies.

The central core of JDEIS will be the joint doctrine database to which all other system

materials will be linked. The JDEIS is intended to have attributes that will improve our ability to

organize, locate, and reference joint doctrine with minimal impact on the Services and allied

doctrine hierarchies. Its overall goal is to provide the members of the joint community rapid,

ready access to doctrinal information required for the myriad tasks they face.

4.1.2.2 Interactive On-Line Courses.

The Joint Staff (J-7) recently put into initial operation

the Doctrine Networked Education and Training (DOCNET) System. This on-line service

consists of interactive multimedia presentations of key joint doctrine concepts. The content for

each module is drawn directly from doctrine without interpretation and is, therefore, an

authoritative information source for use by the U.S. Armed Forces. The goal of DOCNET is to

“bring joint doctrine to life” by presenting the information in a convenient format, employing

varied instructional techniques, and taking advantage of the latest interactive multimedia

technologies. The Internet-based system will initially include approximately 30 modules of

instruction on joint issues related to joint doctrine.

DOCNET modules are currently accessible worldwide, seven days per week, 24 hours per

day (anytime, anywhere) and include interactive animation, case studies, video supplements, and

examinations. The modules are accessible from a password-protected section of the Joint Doctrine

Web site (www.dtic.mil/doctrine). Six modules are currently available: Operational Art, Joint

Force Employment Considerations, Military Operations Other Than War, Joint Task Force from

the Commanders Perspective, Joint Fire Support, and Unified Action Armed Forces. Dozens of

additional modules are planned and will be added as they are developed. The DOCNET system is

designed to enhance the joint doctrine learning experience through on-line modules providing

doctrine-based information in an interactive and multimedia environment.

As part of its efforts to develop distributed learning courseware, the Joint Staff (J-7) is also

supporting OSD-sponsored ADL Initiative research efforts to develop course content that is

Internet-based, is interoperable, and employs the latest developments in cognitive science.

Specifically, Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), in partnership with the Joint Doctrine

Division, is developing a new intelligent computer-managed course of instruction on Crisis Action

Planning for use by the Joint Staff as part of the DOCNET program. The project, entitled Crisis

Action Planning Tutored On-line Resource (CAPTOR), will serve as a prototype test-bed that

meets joint warfighting requirements. The course content will be drawn directly from approved

joint doctrine and other official publications and, as such, will be authoritative in nature.

CAPTOR will incorporate the latest instructional technology and cognitive science

methodologies researched by AFRL, such as tutored learning and Intelligent Computer-Assisted

Instruction. These teaching methodologies are designed to enhance learning and reduce

instruction time over traditional methods of classroom instruction. Instruction will include

interactive animation, asynchronous and synchronous conferencing, student-to-student interface,

student-to-instructor interface, laboratories, and practical exercises.

4.1.2.3.1

Realistic Practical Exercises (Opposing Force Simulations).

To enhance learning

of joint doctrine, with practical experience, the Joint Doctrine Division is developing a Joint

Operations Simulation (JOS) which leverages leading-edge technologies employed by the video

gaming industry. This intelligent-interactive CD ROM-based simulation will enable users to test

their knowledge of joint doctrine and actually conduct a “virtual” joint operation employing

doctrinal principles learned from DOCNET. This realistic training tool incorporates a number of

different basic scenarios that span the entire range of joint military operations. The simulation

includes a tuner to modify the numbers and types of forces so that an unlimited number of

operational conditions can be created.

The future generation of the JOS is the Joint Doctrine Operations Laboratory (JDOL),

which is an Internet-based, cooperative, interactive, multi-player, opposing-force simulator

designed to facilitate operational exercises, experimentation, and rehearsals in myriad

environments and situations. Key leaders and their subordinates will be able to participate in

focused operations regardless of their locations throughout the world. The JDOL will include

both a tuner and an editor, enabling users not only to modify the forces and increase the

OPTEMPO, but also to change the physical location and terrain of the operation using realistic

maps and intelligence input.

4.1.3 Joint Command and Control Research Program (JC

RP).

This Joint Staff (J-6)

initiative provides for joint instruction, research, and collaboration within the C

I arena for the

dual purpose of answering warfighter C

I needs and keeping C

I faculty and students engaged in

leading-edge learning. It is intended to produce distributed learning technical courseware as part

of the research.

4.1.4 Joint Deployment Training Center (JDTC)

. This is a Joint Staff (J-4) and U.S.

Transportation Command (TRANSCOM) initiative to provide just-in-time distributed learning to

DoD Components preparing for or engaged in joint operational planning for deployment.

4.2 Military Service Distributed Learning Programs

4.2.1

Army

. Army distributed learning initiatives are centered on Army Training XXI, the

Total Army Distance Learning Program (TADLP), Classroom XXI, the Distributive Training

Technology Project (DTTP), and the Reserve Education and Learning (REAL) program efforts.

The first critical component to this program is access to technology. The establishment of

over 841 technology-based and interconnected Learning Centers provides both “continental

United States” (CONUS) and “outside the continental United States” (OCONUS) locations to

support students. Mobile distance learning centers

will connect with communications

infrastructure for delivery of training to support student surge requirements, provide access to

training events occurring in areas of low population density, and support contingency operations.

The second critical component is courseware. The Army Training and Doctrine Command

(TRADOC) maintains over 1,600 “resident” courses of instruction, ranging from a few days to

about one year in length. A total of 525 courses are slated for redesign to distributed learning

format between FY 98 and FY10. Additionally, task-based training and other courseware, such

as COTS courses, are being provided to soldiers in the field through the TADLP learning centers.

Unit readiness is the key factor in the courseware selection and the prioritization process.

Key to the Army effort is delivering courseware and providing access to knowledge at the

right time and right place. The Army plans to provide a springboard for continued expansion to

anytime-anywhere learning capabilities. This will be best exhibited by the University After Next

effort now underway at the Center for Army Lessons Learned (CALL).

To manage change, the Army has developed a Total Army Distance Learning Plan

(TADLP). An objective of this plan is to establish an Army training delivery system by linking

proponents and users through a telecommunications-based common operating environment. This

objective supports a fully-networked training delivery, training development, and training

management environment.

TADLP is a two-phase program. Phase I establishes an Initial Operating Capability that

begins to integrate and modernize courseware and hardware, prepare and equip distance learning

facilities, and integrate the facilities with existing satellite and communications infrastructures.

Phase II completes full-system implementation, to include: acquisition of the complete

communications infrastructure, integration, and implementation of all interfaces needed to satisfy

training requirements with joint, national, and international communications infrastructures.

Leveraging national governmental and commercial networks (such as the Defense Information

Systems Network (DISN), Defense Communications Teleconferencing Network (DCTN),

National Guard-sponsored networks (e.g., GuardNet XXI)), and other individual state initiatives

will allow up-to-date training, focused on needs, to be provided where and when needed.

The Army has developed a consolidated list of Distance Learning facilities required to

support all Army components. The list contains facilities to be fielded and the programmed

location and time period for fielding. Distance Learning facility requirements are based on the

number of Active and Reserve component soldiers requiring training within specific geographic

areas. The Army established and is executing a program, that began in 1998, for redesigning 31

courses a year for distance learning. Plans call for initiation of the process and capability for

Internet-deliverable courses in FY99 and FY00, and employment of deployable training

capabilities using satellite connectivity for soldiers and units serving in OCONUS locations

where training facilities are not available.

To date, the Army has:

•

identified approximately 4000 hours of pre-TADLP or legacy courseware that will be

useable in the distance learning infrastructure;

•

established media standards for distance learning courseware to ensure effective and

efficient training, and proper operation on Joint Technical Architecture (JTA)

compliant systems;

•

chosen standard media authoring tools for developing distance learning materials to

ensure a consistent training development effort across all components, as well as

establishing courseware with a common touch and feel for the student;

•

implemented a Distance Learning infrastructure that allows synchronous training

between students at distant locations and an instructor either through

Videoteletraining facilities, or collaborative groups -- as well as implementation of

asynchronous training using CD ROM-based interactive multimedia, web-based

interactive multimedia, and collaboration;

•

complies with Joint Technical Architecture–Army Specifications to ensure

interoperability within the Army and with sister Services infrastructure; and

•

established an Army Doctrine and Training Digital Library (ADTDL) accessible

through the Internet. The Library contains training materials supporting both

individual and unit training and is available to personnel of all Services. The Library

receives between 600,000 and 1,000,000 hits per week. The library has materials from

all Services.

4.2.1.1 Current Initiatives

. Sixty-eight Total Army Training System Courses are in various

stages of redesign. Courses include enlisted reclassification, officer, non-commissioned officer,

and civilian training courses. The Combined Arms Staff Service School (CAS

) has been

selected as a prototype for advanced distributed learning implementation. Implementation of

Phase II of the TADLP fielding program will migrate Distance Learning classrooms to network

connectivity using the DISN, GuardNet, and other capable networks. Additionally, the Army is

working with OSD to develop reusable training objects to gain efficiency and better support for

the training mission.

4.2.1.2 Long-Range Goals

. The Army’s stated long-range goal is right-time, right-place

learning-center-based training. Additional long-range goals include:

•

Increasing the output of Distance Learning (DL) courses to 47 per year, beginning in 2003.

•

Delivering high-quality web-based training to the soldier at his or her home and work

place.

•

Ensuring that at least 99 percent of the Total Army population will be within 50 miles of a

Distance Learning Classroom. Over 50 percent of the force will be covered by the end of

FY99.

•

Establishing a system of network-based simulations, that can be accessed from the desktop.

Simulation is a representation or imitation of reality and includes simulating part of a

system, the operation of a system, and the environment in which the system will operate.

The Army will use simulation to replace live training, where appropriate, as a means to

safely practice an action or activity under varied conditions and to conduct individual and

collective training in a virtual/simulated environment.

4.2.2 Navy

. The Navy’s strategy implements a Navy-wide Distributed Learning System

designed to deliver training, education, and information “on demand” as a career-long continuum

to support Naval Operational Readiness and personal excellence. Initiatives are centered around

the Navy’s Strategic Training Vision, which includes Fleet initiatives, such as Operational

Maneuver from the Sea and Network-Centric Warfare (NCW), a concept for distributed decision-

making in the JV 2010 environment. NCW depends on Copernicus, a robust adaptive-bandwidth

network architecture that integrates most deployed naval platforms and permits synchronized

engagement.

4.2.2.1 Current Initiatives

. The Director of Naval Training (CNO N7) has promulgated the

Navy Distributed Learning Planning Strategy to begin the process that will meet the challenges of

getting sailors to the fleet faster, reducing infrastructure costs, decreasing sailors’ time away from

homeports, and improving readiness. CNO N7 has chartered an integrated effort to develop the

Navy distributed learning strategic plan. At this time, CNO N7’s vision is that a Navy

distributed learning system will support delivery of education and training to shore-based

readiness centers, classrooms within schoolhouses, ships at sea, Naval Reserve Activities, and

Sailors’ homes. The vision provides three-dimensions: learning environments across time and

space, decision support through data warehousing and decision support tools, and management of

learners and learning to ensure readiness across career continuums. The Navy currently has

several distributed learning initiatives under development or test at the Naval Post Graduate

School, Navy Schoolhouses, and the Naval Reserve Professional Development Center.

4.2.2.2 Long-Range Goals

. The Navy Distributed Learning Planning Strategy articulates

development of a long-range plan to make the distributed learning system a career-long “on

demand” continuum of learning that begins with accession and initial skills training and

continues throughout the Sailor’s professional development as a leader and warrior. The system

will be designed to provide education and training on demand (anytime, anywhere) for Active

and Reserve component members on shore, at sea, or at home.

4.2.3

Air Force.

The Air Force and its Reserve components primarily conduct right-time,

right-place distributed (distance) learning via media ranging from paper to interactive

courseware (ICW) and interactive satellite-based television. The right-time, right-place

philosophy meets today's Air Force education and training requirements in a cost-effective

manner, taking into consideration the realities of a fiscally constrained environment. However,

the Air Force is increasing its capability to deliver anytime-anywhere distributed learning with

networked simulator training, Internet-based courses, digital libraries, and on-line learning

resources.

As a result of trends identified in the Air Force 2025 Project, the Air Force expects that

education and training programs may be adjusted to meet the individual needs and capabilities of

the student in an anytime-anywhere environment. Realizing there will be some requirements for

group instruction to support social interaction and “aculturalization” of the student, the majority of

traditional methods of instruction may be replaced with enhanced interactive sessions, using

personal computers, artificial intelligence, virtual reality, and simulators in a seamless advanced

distributed learning environment. The process would be aided and abetted by feedback from

analysis of the student’s cognitive processes so the learning devices could alter strategies to best

support individualized learning.

In addition, the goal of training providers in the Air Force Reserve component is to produce

and deliver distributed learning through as many delivery systems as possible, including Internet-

delivered training. Air Force Reserve components expect to be able to capture training from

whatever the source.

4.2.3.1

Current Initiatives

. Current plans call for an expansion of both right-time, right-place

courses, and anytime-anywhere instruction.

Current initiatives include the creation of the Air

Force Institute for Distance Learning to serve as the central focal point for distributed (distance)

learning and the evaluation of formal courses, and to expand the number of courses and

instructional modules delivered to the field. This contracted evaluation may result in 400

additional courses being converted to a variety of distributed learning media. Also, the Air

Force is leading the joint Service project to develop prototype ADL Initiative concepts in the

Train-the-Trainer course.

Additionally, the Air Force is looking for advanced distributed learning solutions to

support Air Expeditionary Force (AEF) deployments. The Air Force is building a Distributed

Mission Training (DMT) system of linked, high-fidelity simulators that allows combat aircrews

to train more effectively. They will be linked with AWACS, JSTARS, and bomber simulators,

and an air operations center allowing vital mission training to take place year round, just before

AEF deployments. The Air University has proposed enhancing the Air War College (AWC) and

Air Command and Staff College (ACSC) nonresident courses with the use of new advanced

distributed learning tools. The current ACSC curriculum is a hybrid, using CD ROM, Internet,

and paper media with an operational "Virtual Campus" that uses Internet bulletin boards, chat

rooms with threaded discussion, streaming media, and e-mail. The American Productivity and

Quality Center has recognized ACSC’s initiative in its Consortium Benchmarking Study Using

Technology in Education. The AWC has implemented a portal called “Gateway to the Internet,”

with access to over 10,000 on-line resources.

The Air Force is also looking at innovative hybrid applications that can accommodate

various styles, domains, and levels of learning. For example, the Air Force Trainer’s Course,

currently under prototype evaluation, uses synchronous interactive television broadcasts via the

Air Technology Network and asynchronous interactive modules delivered via the Internet. Also,

the Air Force plans to incorporate electronic enhancements in its paper-based correspondence

courses to allow for the rapid update of information and to reach higher levels of learning.

The Reserve components are also actively involved in distance learning. The Air Force

Reserve Command (AFRC) is in the initial stages of reviewing a proposal to convert its

interactive television system (TNET) to the Air Technology Network, which would enhance the

compatibility between the Air National Guard and active Air Force systems. The Professional

Development Center at AFRC is currently identifying and converting local indoctrination

courses, 35 to date, to distance learning. The Air National Guard and AFRC are co-sponsoring

an internal Air Force initiative to develop a workable compensation policy for

Guardsman/Reservists who take distance learning courses. The Reserve components have a

tremendous need for distance learning alternatives to existing resident courses – and they are

working to implement new distance learning-based courses as soon as they can be developed.

Distance learning concepts and initiatives are contained in the Air Force Distance

Learning Roadmap, which serves as an internal Air Force guide to investment and mission-

essential priorities for the Air Force Distance Learning Program.

4.2.3.2 Long-Range Goals

. The Air Force plans to exploit future advanced distributed learning

technologies to increase AEF readiness and to reduce education and training costs. The long-term

goal is to implement concepts in PME 2020, Spacecast 2020, and Air Force 2025.

4.2.4 United States Marine Corps.

The Marine Corps has a fully-funded service-wide

advanced distributed learning program. It has developed a robust infrastructure to develop,

deliver, and track network-centric training and educational materials. The USMC plan calls for

the installation of a Training and Education Point of Presence (TEPOP) at each Marine Corps

base and station. Every networked workstation in the Marine Corps will have access to digital

training materials. Marines without a workstation will gain access through the Learning

Resources Centers that are being installed at each base and station. Forward-deployed Marines

will be serviced by a robust deployable system that is designed to operate in expeditionary

environments. The Marine Corps is also making wide use of videoteletraining (VTT) systems.

They have established a standards-based system that is interoperable with the other Services VTT

systems. The Marine Corps is in the process of converting its first series of courses for delivery

in the network-centric environment.

4.2.4.1 Current Initiatives

. Currently, the Marine Corps is in the pilot phase of its advanced

distributed learning program. During this phase it has established a sub-set of the greater Marine

Corps Learning Network (MarineNet). Infrastructure has been installed at three geographically

dispersed Marine Corps bases. A systems integration test of the Marine Corps’ advanced

distributed learning initiative is scheduled for early summer 1999. The Marine Corps goal is to

test the following on-line system functionality to: log on to the system; register for a course; take

a course; take the on-line exam; and to receive course credit.

The Marine Corps remains fully engaged with the ADL Initiative, DoD working groups,

and other collaborative efforts. Current efforts also include bridging the MarineNet infrastructure

with the Marine Reserve Network (R-Net) to provide the Reserve component with access to the

same on-line course material.

4.2.4.2 Long-Range Goals

. The Marine Corps views distributed learning as a supporting arm to

the greater training modernization effort occurring within the Corps. The combined efforts of

training modernization and distributed learning will enable the Marine Corps to shorten the time

a Marine spends in a resident school setting. The overarching goal of Marine Corps advanced

distributed learning is to shorten the “street to fleet” process and provide Marines, regardless of

location, access to world-class training and education materials (anytime, anywhere).

4.3 Other Distributed Learning Programs

4.3.1 Defense Acquisition University (DAU).

DAU’s technology-based education and training

vision is to provide an educational program that fully supports a culture of continuous learning. It

provides for convenient, cost-effective access to education, training, performance support, and

expert advice to all members of the DoD acquisition community.

4.3.1.1 Current Initiatives

. DAU has identified the following requirements for expanding the

use of technology-based instruction: certification training, career advancement training, and cross

training. Using data from the Defense Acquisition Workforce Improvement Act (DAWIA),

DAU has determined that the annual demand for certification training, to meet current job

requirements, exceeds 36,000 training events. Approximately half that number of individuals

currently attend DAU certification courses each year. Approximately 15 percent of individuals

enrolled in DAU courses prepare themselves for career advancement by taking advanced courses

in their career fields. In addition to certification and career advancement, DAWIA personnel also

enroll in courses for cross training and continuing education outside their career fields.

Presently, 22 percent of those who enroll in DAU courses are DAWIA personnel who are outside

the career field(s) for which the course is required for certification.

In 1995, DAU developed a technology road map that charted its migration from a

traditional classroom environment to a virtual educational enterprise. In 1997, DAU designed,

built, and implemented an on-line system that provides: curriculum and career program

administration; on-line registration; course delivery and management; test administration; student

assessment and tracking; survey development and delivery; reports; and student and instructor

collaboration tools. This environment enables students to check their knowledge, assess their

learning, and engage in highly interactive exercises.

To accommodate the new skill sets required by instructors, DAU has a professional

development program in place that uses performance support tools to manage students and

curriculum on-line. By mid-2000, the entire DAU curriculum will have been modernized

through technology infusion. All courses will use a mixed media approach to optimize the

educational experience. Industry benchmarks and best practices will be integrated throughout

DAU’s entire management process. For example, the software engineering rapid prototyping

model has been effective in reducing the time for design and on-line implementation of courses.

DAU’s goal from its 1995 plan is being executed to form a modern, technology-driven education

and training, continuous-learning enterprise.

4.3.1.2 Long-Range Goals.

DAU’s goal is to provide high-quality acquisition educational

opportunities to ensure the competency and readiness of the DAWIA workforce. Efficiencies

realized through process re-engineering will be used to support ongoing curriculum modernization.

4.3.2

Defense Logistics Agency (DLA).

DLA plans to conduct right-time, right-place

distributed learning via a variety of technologies. These include, but are not limited to,

audio/video teleconferencing via the DLA Network and Internet (commercial, government, and

agency-developed). The DLA Network will consist of approximately six origination sites and 35

satellite downlinks. It will be interoperable with all affiliates of the Government Education and

Training Network and able to receive the Public Broadcasting System (The Business Channel)

and the National Technological University programming.

4.3.2.1 Current Initiatives.

Current initiatives include: on-going identification of

courses/programs within the DLA inventory which will be converted to a distributed learning

format, ongoing development of those previously identified for conversion, continued expansion

of the satellite and terrestrial infrastructure (scheduled for completion in June 1999), and

continued movement toward computer and Internet access for all personnel.

4.3.2.2 Long-Range Goals.

DLA’s long-range goal is to ensure that each training event is the

most effective and efficient it can be while providing right-time, right-place learning for all DLA

personnel.

4.3.3 Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA).

Under the leadership of DIA, many future training

requirements of the DoD General Intelligence Training System (GITS) community will be met

through the establishment of a classified on-line “Virtual University” within the right-time, right-

place constraints of selected national security facilities. The purpose of the Virtual University

project is to make available to the GITS community a comprehensive and integrated on-line

learning applications system capable of providing advanced distributed learning via Intelink and

the Joint Intelligence Virtual Architecture (JIVA) environment.

4.3.3.1 Current Initiatives.

Phase I of the Virtual University initiative will begin this fiscal year

(1999) with the selection of a contractor to analyze, design, deliver, install, maintain, and manage

the Virtual University project in support of the JIVA Integration Management Office and the

GITS community. The contractor will assist in the development of an architecture, including

hardware and/or software, that can be implemented in stages, to provide a comprehensive on-line

learning applications system for an estimated 10,000 Defense Intelligence Community users

operating within the Intelink classified intelligence Intranet.

4.3.3.2

Long-Range Goals.

Future phases of the Virtual University project will expand the

implementation of the architecture to provide robust synchronous and asynchronous links among

the DIA Joint Military Intelligence Training Center, the four-Service intelligence schools, and the

Unified Commands’ Regional Joint Intelligence Training Facilities. The Virtual University will

incorporate the JIVA Collaborative Environment (JCE) into its structure and maximize the use of

the JCE in the delivery of worldwide training to desktops located within selected national

security facilities. Another DIA long-range goal is to explore collaborative efforts and

partnerships with other DoD intelligence agencies, USACOM, and the Joint Staff (J-7) as they

continue to advance the DJTI.

4.3.4 The Department of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA).

DoDEA is a Department of

Defense field activity providing education to eligible Department of Defense military and civilian

dependents, from kindergarten through high school, at sites overseas and in the United States.

Overseas. The system of overseas schools, known as the Department of Defense

Dependents Schools (DoDDS) serves an estimated 85,000 students in 170 schools and one

community college. The DoDDS staff numbers 12,500 employees, located in 14 countries.

United States. The U.S. system of schools, the Department of Defense Domestic

Dependent Elementary and Secondary Schools, is comprised of a staff of 5,300 employees and

serves an estimated 33,000 students in 65 schools located in seven states, Guam, and the

Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.

4.3.4.1 Current Initiatives.

The current distributed learning program in DoDEA served close

to 1,000 students in School Year 1997-1998 through credit-bearing high school courses. The

program, known as the DoDEA Electronic School, offered high school courses using Lotus

Notes software. It has allowed DoDEA to operate a learning program across eight time zones

with minimum scheduling difficulties by offering scheduled asynchronous courses (anytime,

anywhere). An additional 2,000 students were served through distributed learning activities such

as Writer’s Workshop and National Geographic Kidset. The DoDEA is the first kindergarten-

through-high school school system to use asynchronous distributed learning technologies to

provide high school courses. DoDEA has provided distributed learning courses to its students

since 1986.

In March 1998, an evaluation of the distributed learning program identified strengths and

challenges in the program. The first on-line train-the-trainer course was provided to DoDEA

staff during School Year 1998-1999. As a result, new high school courses and staff development

courses are planned for school year 1999-2000.

4.3.4.2 Long-Range Goals

. At the request of the Director, DoDEA, a Distributed Learning

Steering Committee was established. The committee has proposed the following five

overarching goals, each with measurable implementing benchmarks and objectives, involving

critical aspects of providing and managing life-long learning opportunities for all DoDEA

stakeholders.

Institutionalize the DoDEA Electronic School. Plan, develop, deliver, and evaluate

kindergarten-through-high school core and elective courses that can leverage emerging

distributed learning technologies.

Establish the DoDEA Electronic Campus. Plan, develop, deliver, and evaluate professional

development and training for the DoDEA workforce.

Leverage Technologies. Develop innovative technological and methodological approaches

for lesson and course development.

Establish Best Business Practices. Ensure that DoDEA distributed learning programs are

developed and maintained according to Government Performance and Results Act criteria and

programs sponsored by the National Partnership for Reinventing Government.

Establish Outreach Programs. Establish formal affiliations with public and private

institutions pursuing lifelong learning initiatives.

4.3.5 Director of Central Intelligence (DCI).

DCI’s Intelligence Community (IC) Management

Staff has a strategic plan intended to move the IC toward a cooperative and consolidated

training/education mission of improving employee performance and using the most appropriate

methodologies, including technology-assisted training, classroom-based training, and outsourced

training.

4.3.5.1 Current Initiatives.

Three initiatives are moving the IC forward in learning:

implementation of lead agencies for collaborative training across the IC; establishment of

standard training data and metrics; and leveraging of appropriately applied technology to all

aspects of learning in the IC.

4.3.5.2

Long-Range Goals.

The lead agency concept will direct the IC to the reduction of

unwarranted duplication and to the expansion of workforce expertise.

4.3.6 National Security Agency (NSA).

NSA distributed learning initiatives are centered on

the National Cryptologic Strategy for the 21st Century (NCS-21) and, specifically, Goal 5 of that

strategy, which states: "Transform the Cryptologic Workforce, Processes and Infrastructure to

Meet the Emerging Challenges." This has led to an aggressive effort to provide a distributed

learning system that particularly emphasizes learning in the Information Technology (IT) area.

NSA's initiatives use web-based and network technologies to deliver this training, thus

reinforcing learning by using IT to teach IT. Today, nearly 25 percent of all training courses

offered by NSA use distributed learning technologies. In the process of bringing this vision to

reality, NSA has developed a wide range of partnerships across government. Most of NSA's

current and future initiatives are available to, or developed in concert with, other Defense

organizations, non-Defense IC agencies, and U.S. government civil agencies.

4.3.6.1 Current Initiatives

. NSA currently has two web-based distributed learning initiatives --

Project FasTrac and Project WebTrain.

FasTrac offers a library of over 300 COTS courses, rich in IT subject matter. FasTrac

courses are accessible over the NSA intranet, over Intelink, or over the Internet. Government

partners participating in FasTrac include the Navy, the Defense Intelligence Agency, the Central

Intelligence Agency, the National Imagery and Mapping Agency, the Federal Bureau of

Investigation, the National Park Service, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

The FasTrac curriculum includes all courses required for Microsoft and Novell certification.

WebTrain provides government-owned and developed courses, many with classified

content, to NSA headquarters and worldwide field activities and is available only over secure

networks. NSA also operates the Secure Distance Learning Network (SDLN) - a dedicated,

videoteletraining system connecting selected Army, Navy, Air Force, and DoD training and

academic institutions to operating locations around the globe. The SDLN provides classified

training and education. NSA is also heavily engaged in the use of embedded learning initiatives

and maintains a staff of experts in Electronic Performance Support Systems (EPSS). These

experts consult with systems acquisition authorities and systems developers to ensure that

learning is designed into new systems when they are deployed. NSA's government partner in the

EPSS arena is the Defense Intelligence Agency. Finally, NSA has an initiative to explore the use

of modeling, simulation, and virtual classrooms and laboratories in a distributed learning

environment. In partnership with the Chief of Naval Education and Training (CNET), NSA is

developing a virtual signals analysis and processing laboratory for a CNET school. Designed

using Virtual Reality Mark-up Language (VRML) to functionally simulate suites of equipment

hardware and software, this virtual laboratory will be operational in early 2000.

4.3.6.2 Long-Range Goals.

NSA intends to deliver 50 percent of all its courses via distributed

learning by the year 2005. NSA's philosophy is that "The future of learning is virtual." As the

workforce is increasingly populated with men and women who grew up using the World-Wide

Web and who are as comfortable in virtual environments as real ones, the learning system must

adapt to their needs. Realistic simulations and virtual environments, accessible through a

distributed network, will train this 21st Century workforce. NSA is also committed to

developing a totally modular, reusable curriculum. To achieve this end, NSA will develop an

extensive library of learning modules, known as the Object Training Library (OTL). The OTL

will be an on-line resource for trainers and students. It will consist of a wide variety of "training

objects," including reference materials, video clips, and access to subject-matter experts and

coaches, as well as course module outlines and materials, all available on-demand.

4.3.7 Director of Military Support (DOMS):

The Consequence Management Program

Integration Office (CoMPIO) of DOMS, was established by Defense Reform Initiative Directive

Number 25 to improve DoD support for civil response to terrorist attacks involving the use of

Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD). CoMPIO has developed an advanced distributed

learning strategy as part of an overall training program (known as "Utmost Confidence") to meet

the training needs of military WMD response elements. In order to meet those training needs and

respond effectively to operational requirements, CoMPIO plans to rapidly develop and deliver

quality advanced distributed learning tools that are in consonance with their strategic objectives.

These objectives include sharing state-of-the-art development techniques, avoiding duplication of

efforts (and funding), speeding development and reducing costs by identifying and leveraging

existing infrastructure and courseware products, and achieving economies of scale by identifying

multiple-agency user requirements for interagency collaborative development efforts and shared

funding.

4.3.7.1 Current Initiatives.

The CoMPIO advanced distributed learning strategy includes:

a. Partnering

. CoMPIO is actively collaborating with a number of Defense activities,

Federal agencies, and various national and international associations with interests in the WMD

area. Among its activities are developmental efforts with the Department of Justice’s Office of

State and Local Domestic Preparedness Support, National Institute of Justice, and National

Domestic Preparedness Office, the OSTP, the Department of Energy, and the Environmental

Protection Association. Extensive collaboration occurs with the National Fire Academy (NFA),

the International Association of Fire Chiefs, the National Fire Protection Association and other

affected associations. Additionally, internal Defense Department initiatives are under way with

the National Guard Bureau, the Office of the Chief of the Army Reserve, the Air Force National

Security Program, the Marine Corps Systems Command, the Naval Air Warfare Center-Training

Support Division, the U.S. Army Chemical School (USACMLS), U.S. Army Transportation

School, the Army Medical Department, the Soldier Biological and Chemical Command

(SBCCOM), the Army Reserve Readiness Training Center, and the National Guard Professional

Education Center.

b. Major Development Initiatives

. CoMPIO advanced distributed learning efforts are

focused on several projects that offer the potential to deliver high training value directly aimed at

program training requirements. The emphasis is on rapidly delivering quality products to users

to provide initial or sustainment training opportunities that can reduce travel costs, allow

anytime-anywhere learning, and provide operational performance-aiding support. The following

is a summary of the projects for FY 1999-2000:

1. Courseware Survey. WMD-response courseware development tends to be done

through ad hoc and independent efforts. Future developmental efforts must include collaboration

among various Defense and interagency partners. CoMPIO has surveyed existing and in-

development courseware and created an archive of over 20 courseware projects that provide

training and education on WMD response. These products are predominantly delivered via CD

ROM, but also include web-based instruction, satellite-delivery, video-teleconferencing, and

correspondence courses.

2. Courseware Development. CoMPIO has provided both direct and indirect

support of courseware development to meet the training needs of DoD WMD response elements.

It has directly sponsored development of a Nuclear, Biological, Chemical (NBC) Awareness

course called "ABC Plus." The target audience for this course includes several hundred

members of Reserve component WMD response units. CoMPIO has also provided indirect, but

not insubstantial, support to increased development of courseware for training and maintenance

of NBC detection and protection equipment. Over 20 CD ROMs have already been developed

under this SBCCOM and the USACMLS co-sponsored effort. CoMPIO also provided support to

the effort by the U.S. Army Reserve Command, which funded the development of an Incident

Command System CD ROM for the NFA.

3. Infrastructure Testing and Development. CoMPIO is funding a major test and

evaluation of the existing Reserve components advanced distributed learning infrastructure. The

backbone of this infrastructure is the Army National Guard network known as GuardNet and the

Air National Guard network known as WarriorNet. GuardNet, WarriorNet, and the Army’s

Reserve Component Automation System allow distribution of many training opportunities to

Guard and Reserve soldiers and airmen. An additional advantage of the National Guard system

is the capability to offer advanced distributed learning training opportunities to millions of

additional students, such as emergency first responders and state and local civil leaders, through

the "shared usage" arrangement authorized by Congress.

4.3.7.2 Long-Range Goals.

CoMPIO intends to fund and/or otherwise support migration of

WMD-response-related courseware to web-based applications and also seeks to harness the

improved interactivity and learning opportunities associated with artificial intelligence

applications. CoMPIO received initial approval from the NFA to collaborate in the development

of four NFA advanced distributed learning courses including: Emergency Response to Terrorism

(Incident Management), a 40-hour course; Emergency Response to Terrorism (Tactical

Considerations) (Command), a 16-hour course; Emergency Response to Terrorism (Tactical

Considerations) (HAZMAT), a 16-hour course; and Emergency Response to Terrorism (Tactical

Considerations) (EMS), a 16-hour course. Additionally, CoMPIO is planning significant

involvement in distributed simulation capabilities such as:

a. Virtual Environment (VE) Simulations Training

. CoMPIO is researching the

feasibility of placing virtual training suites in each of the ten states which host National Guard

Rapid Assessment and Initial Detection (RAID) teams. These states also host the Federal

Emergency Management Agency regional headquarters and include: Massachusetts, New York,

Pennsylvania, Georgia, Illinois, Missouri, Texas, Colorado, California, and Washington. The

purpose of this virtual training initiative is to provide each RAID team with a virtual

environment capability with immersive and interactive virtual environments. A major feature

under consideration is the partial digitization of maps and physical features for ten of America's

largest cities. Washington, D.C. has already been digitized in a prototype effort. The ten cities

under consideration for digitization include: Boston, MA; New York City, NY (lower

Manhattan); Philadelphia, PA; Atlanta, GA; Chicago, IL; St. Louis, MO; Dallas, TX; Denver,

CO; Los Angeles, CA; and Seattle, WA. This digitization includes high-fidelity renderings of

selected building interiors, using CAD/CAM drawings. The White House has been rendered in

high fidelity for the Washington, D.C. prototype. The existence of such a virtual environment

training capability affords certain significant advantages, including terrain/buildings association,

rehearsal of response efforts in buildings where live training is impossible, and enhanced

operational security by moving training to the confines of a secure facility from live sites where

adversary/threat surveillance is possible. Vehicle models (such as emergency first-responder

vehicles) and digital people (avatars) which can replicate the effects of NBC agent exposures

may be developed. Stealth capability and automated after-action reporting systems may be

included.

b. Constructive Environment (CE) Simulations Training

. CoMPIO is involved in

assessing the training value of a number of CE simulations for use by Defense and emergency

first-response organizations. This analysis effort is specifically looking at the following

simulations: Janus-based applications, Spectrum, and Emergency Information Systems (EIS).

Two major factors in the decision on which system(s) to select will be interoperability among

various users (e.g., what systems are other organizations using?) and interoperability with other

training environments (e.g., live-virtual interfaces known as Synthetic Theater of War and

compliance with system standards such as the High-Level Architecture).

4.3.8 DoD Civilian Education, Training, and Operations.

Defense Components use an ever-

increasing array of technology-assisted means to develop and deliver training and education to

their civilian personnel. These include CD ROMs, video courses, Internet-based tutorials and

presentations, and interactive video-teleconferencing. The Army has converted a number of its

civilian leader development core courses and personnel management classes to on-line programs.

The Total Army Distance Learning Plan integrates selected Army Civilian Training, Education,

and Development System (ACTEDS) and American Continuing Education System (ACES)

programs. Navy field activities are pursing distributed learning initiatives, including accessing a

distance-based MBA program and other university courses, and network-distributed computer-

based training (CBT) for such mandatory training as prevention of sexual harassment and ethics

training. The Air Force has established a Distance Learning Training Section at the Air Force

Personnel Center. Their approach to distance training will normally take the form of live

television-type training broadcasts via satellite, computer-based training modules, web-based

training modules deployed over the Internet, or some combination of all the methods. In addition,

civilian personnel in various components participate in and benefit from the distributed learning

initiatives developed for military personnel.

4.3.8.1 Current Initiatives.

The Civilian Personnel Management Service (CPMS) is developing

a modernized Defense Civilian Personnel Data System (DCPDS) that will include an Oracle-based

system of training administration that will migrate to a web application. Its purpose is to speed

overall accessibility to learning opportunities and reduce administrative costs, while ensuring

compliance with statutory and regulatory requirements. The Department of Defense is also

pursuing the possibility of electronic commerce for purposes of enrolling in and purchasing

training. CPMS is deploying a Knowledge-Based System (KBS) that will serve as an expert

electronic adviser on training administration matters. In addition, the Department-wide Defense

Leadership and Management Program (DLAMP) provides web-based tutorials to review, refresh,

and enhance the knowledge of students before taking two-week graduate-level courses sponsored

by DLAMP. Beyond these initiatives, the Civilian Personnel Policy Office is working with the

DUSD(R) to determine applications of the ADL Initiative for civilian purposes in the Department.

4.3.8.2

Long-Range Goals

. The goal is to prepare people and systems to meet changing national

security challenges and opportunities in accordance with DoD’s training technology vision.

Learning strategy drives the technology strategy, whether that technology is a classroom or web-

based tutorial, for educational or training purposes.

4.3.9 George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies and the Partnership for

Peace (PfP) Consortium of Defense Academies and Security Studies Institutes.

The

Marshall Center has a unique student body, drawing military and civilian officials from 37

countries throughout Europe, Eurasia, and North America. The PfP Consortium of Defense

Academies and Security Studies Institutes was formed to strengthen defense civilian and military

professionalism through enhanced national and institutional cooperation among the 44 Euro-

Atlantic Partnership Council countries. The goal of both institutions is to promote an atmosphere

conducive to cooperation on defense and security studies issues. Since infrastructure

development varies widely within these target countries, the Marshall Center and the PfP

Consortium will rely primarily on the Partnership for Peace Information Management System

(PIMS) network to support their advanced distributed learning efforts.

4.3.9.1 Current Initiatives.

The Marshall Center and the PfP Consortium are fully committed to

remaining engaged with the ADL Initiative and other collaborative approaches to defense

military and civilian education and training. The Marshall Center is currently examining its

Advanced Seminar Program to make it available on-line to users on the PIMS Intranet.

Language training modules in English, German, and Russian are being developed to improve

interoperability by making these terminology courses available in a read-ahead mode prior to

students arriving at the Marshall Center. On-line computer training modules will be made

available to allow PIMS users in the Partner countries to increase their computer proficiency

prior to arriving at the Marshall Center resident courses.

4.3.9.2 Long-Range Goals.

The Marshall Center wants to provide a system of continuous

learning opportunities for its past, present, and future course participants. To accommodate the

new skill sets required by teachers in Classroom XXI, our professors will be exposed to

multimedia teaching concepts from programs such as the one at MIT’s Hypermedia Teaching

Facility. The Continuing Education Program of the Marshall Center looks to take advantage of

moderated discussion groups so course participants can maintain direct contacts with their

professors and fellow participants. The Marshall Center also intends to make course materials

available on-line for resident participants and those involved with distance learning. As these

and other technological innovations contribute to the learning environment, the Marshall Center

believes that participants and professors alike will become more comfortable with the use of

computers in education, thus promoting interoperability in the security studies environment of

tomorrow.

5.0

Next Steps – Implementation Plan

As addressed in this Strategy, the Department of Defense has a broad range of distributed

learning plans, programs, and initiatives under way, each in various stages of development and

implementation. The Military Services (Active and Reserve components), the Joint Staff, and

Defense Components are embracing the use of distributed learning as a way to increase access to

learning content and increase efficiency. The Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for

Personnel and Readiness established the ADL Initiative to coordinate these programs and develop

the common architecture and standards that will ensure interoperability and reuse of distributed

learning tools and resources across the Department. Furthermore, rather than create a Defense-

unique solution, the ADL Initiative leverages collaborative efforts -- involving other public-sector

organizations, academia, and the private sector -- to develop a common open-architecture

framework in support of Defense and National advanced distributed learning needs.

The ADL Initiative has been recognized by the Executive Branch in a January 30, 1998

memorandum, “Enhancing Learning and Education Through Technology,” as a model for Federal

agencies and others to follow (Appendix F). Given its experience and leadership in the ADL

Initiative, the Department of Defense has been designated in Executive Order 13111 (Appendix B)

as the lead Federal agency for developing open-architecture standards. In addition, there are a

number of "next steps" under way.

For example, to provide the capability to assess ADL Initiative prototypes against the open-

architecture standards that are now emerging, the Department is establishing an ADL "Co-

laboratory" that will serve as a technical and analytical resource for use by the Services and other

DoD participants. The DUSD(R) staff is working with the Office of the Director, Defense

Research and Engineering to establish a DoD science and technology program that provides near-,

mid-, and long-range research and development support to the ADL Initiative. The staff is also

working with the DoD Comptroller to clearly identify and coordinate the funds associated with

DoD distributed learning programs and initiatives. DUSD(R) is also working closely with the

Services, Joint Staff, and Defense Components to develop learning content and prototype delivery

systems that demonstrate the utility and effectiveness of distributed learning technologies.

This report provides the DoD Strategic Plan for Advanced Distributed Learning to achieve

the Secretary’s vision that the Department of Defense provide its Total Force access to the highest

quality education and training that can be tailored to individual needs, and delivered cost

effectively, anywhere and anytime it is required. While the Department makes a concerted effort to

move from today’s classroom-centric learning model to the advanced distributed learning

paradigm, a learner-centric model, it will apply a DoD-wide learning modernization strategy to:

•

Exploit existing network-based technologies;

•

Create platform neutral and reusable content;

•

Promote widespread collaboration to satisfy common needs;

•

Enhance performance with next-generation learning technologies;

•

Develop a common framework that drives COTS product cycles; and

•

Establish a coordinated implementation process.

A detailed Implementation Plan, which identifies specific advanced distributed learning

prototypes, program milestones, and associated resources, will be developed and provided to

Congress by July 30, 1999. The Implementation Plan will also detail: how this Department-wide

effort will share state-of-the-art development techniques; how Defense Components will avoid

duplication of effort (and funding); how DoD can speed development of learning technologies and

reduce costs by identifying and leveraging existing infrastructure and courseware products; and how

advanced distributed learning collaborative partners can achieve economies of scale by identifying

multiple-agency user requirements for interagency collaborative development efforts and shared

funding. The plan will be a roadmap to achieve the advanced distributed learning end-state that is:

•

Accessible -- the ability to access instructional components from one remote location

and deliver it to many other locations;

•

Interoperable -- the ability to use instructional components developed in one location

with one set of tools or platform in another location with a different set of tools or

platform;

•

Durable -- instructional components do not require redesign or recoding to operate when

base technology changes; and

•

Cost-effective -- significantly increase learning effectiveness while reducing time and

costs.

In the future, U.S. Armed Forces will, in all likelihood, continue to deploy to missions that

are unlike those we have faced in the Cold War era. They will have to deploy on a moment’s

notice, to unfamiliar regions of the world, to conduct operations for which they may not have

planned or practiced. Their readiness and capability to conduct such operations requires the

Department of Defense to re-engineer its education, training, and performance mentoring processes

so it can distribute knowledge to the force when and where it needs it -- at home, at home station,

while deploying, or in the theater of operations.

6.0 Appendices

Attached

Appendix A: Congressional Strategic Plan Requirement Language taken from the Strom

Thurmond National Defense Authorization Act for FY 1999.

SEC. 378. STRATEGIC PLAN FOR EXPANSION OF DISTANCE LEARNING

INITIATIVES.

(a) Plan Required--The Secretary of Defense shall develop a strategic plan for guiding and

expanding distance learning initiatives within the Department of Defense. The plan shall provide

for an expansion of such initiatives over five consecutive fiscal years beginning with fiscal year

2000.

(b) Content of Plan--The strategic plan shall contain, at a minimum, the following:

(1)

A statement of measurable goals and objectives and outcome-related performance

indicators (consistent with section 1115 of title 31, United States Code, relating to

agency performance plans) for the development and execution of distance learning

initiatives throughout the Department of Defense.

(2)

A detailed description of how distance learning initiatives are to be developed and

managed within the Department of Defense.

(3)

An assessment of the estimated costs and the benefits associated with developing

and maintaining an appropriate infrastructure for distance learning.

(4)

A statement of planned expenditures for the investments necessary to build and

maintain that infrastructure.

(5)

A description of the mechanisms that are to be used to supervise the development and

coordination of the distance learning initiatives of the Department of Defense.

into account the ongoing collaborative effort among the Department of Defense, other Federal

agencies, and private industry that is known as the Advanced Distribution Learning initiative.

However, the Secretary shall ensure that the strategic plan is specifically focused on the training

and education goals and objectives of the Department of Defense.

(d) Submission to Congress--The Secretary of Defense shall submit the strategic plan to

Congress not later than March 1, 1999.

Appendix B: Presidential Executive Order 13111, January 12, 1999, Subject: Using

Technology To Improve Training Opportunities For Federal Government

Employees.

THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the Press Secretary

For Immediate Release January 12, 1999

EXECUTIVE ORDER

USING TECHNOLOGY TO IMPROVE TRAINING OPPORTUNITIES

FOR FEDERAL GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES

Advances in technology and increased skills needs are changing the workplace at an ever increasing

rate. These advances can make Federal employees more productive and provide improved service

to our customers, the American taxpayers. We need to ensure that we continue to train Federal

employees to take full advantage of these technological advances and to acquire the skills and

learning needed to succeed in a changing workplace. A coordinated Federal effort is needed to

provide flexible training opportunities to employees and to explore how Federal training programs,

initiatives, and policies can better support lifelong learning through the use of learning technology.

To help us meet these goals, I am creating a task force on Federal training technology, directing

Federal agencies to take certain steps to enhance employees’ training opportunities through the use

of training technology, and an advisory committee on the use of training technology, which also

will explore options for financing the training and post-secondary education needed to upgrade

skills and gain new knowledge.

Therefore, by the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United

States of America, including the Federal Advisory Committee Act, as amended (5 U.S.C. App.),

and in furtherance of the purposes of Chapter 41 of title 5, United States Code, the Government

Employees Training Act of 1958 (Public Law 85-507), as amended, and Executive Order 11348,

“Providing for the Further Training of Government Employees,” and in order to make effective use

of technology to improve training opportunities for Federal Government employees, it is ordered as

follows:

Section 1. Establishment of the President’s Task Force on Federal Training Technology.

(a) The “President’s Task Force on Federal Training Technology” (Task Force) is established.

The Task Force shall provide leadership regarding the effective use of technology in training and

education; make training opportunities an integral part of continuing employment in the Federal

Government; and facilitate the ongoing coordination of Federal activities concerning the use of

technology in training. The Task Force shall consist of the heads of the following departments

and agencies or their representatives: the Departments of State, the Treasury, Defense, Justice,

Interior, Agriculture, Commerce, Labor, Health and Human Services, Housing and Urban

Development, Transportation, Energy, and Education; the Office of Personnel Management,

General Services Administration, Environmental Protection Agency, National Aeronautics and

Space and Administration, Small Business Administration, and Social Security Administration; a

representative from the Small Agency Council; and representatives from other relevant agencies

and related Federal councils, as determined by the Chair and Vice Chair of the Task Force.

(b) Within 30 days of the date of this order, the head of each agency or council shall designate a

senior official to serve as a representative to the Task Force. The representative shall report

directly to the agency head or the President’s Management Council member on the agency’s or

council’s activities under this order.

representative from the Department of Labor shall be the Vice Chair of the Task Force.

(d) The Chair and Vice Chair shall appoint an Executive Director.

(e) The Task Force member agencies shall provide any required staffing and funding, as

appropriate.

Sec. 2. Duties of the Task Force.

(a) Within 18 months of the date of this order, the Task Force shall develop and recommend to the

President, through the Assistant to the President for Economic Policy and the Assistant to the

President for Science and Technology, a policy to make effective use of technology to improve

training opportunities for Federal Government employees. The policy should promote and integrate

the effective use of training technologies to create affordable and convenient training opportunities

to improve Federal employee performance. The Task Force shall seek the views of experts from

industry, academia, and State and local governments as the Task Force proceeds, as appropriate.

Specifically, the Task Force shall:

(1) develop strategies to improve the efficiency and availability of training opportunities for

Federal Government employees;

(2) form partnerships among key Federal agencies, State and local governments, businesses,

universities, and other appropriate entities to promote the development and use of high-quality

training opportunities;

(3) analyze the use of technology in existing training programs and policies of the Task Force

member agencies to determine what changes, modifications, and innovations may be necessary to

advance training opportunities;

(4) in consultation with the Department of Defense and the National Institute of Standards and

Technology, recommend standards for training software and associated services purchased by

Federal agencies and contractors. These standards should be consistent with voluntary industry

consensus-based commercial standards. Agencies, where appropriate, should use these standards

in procurements to promote reusable training component software and thereby reduce duplication

in the development of courseware;

(5) evaluate and, where appropriate, coordinate and collaborate on, research and demonstration

activities of Task Force member agencies related to Federal training technology;

(6) identify and support cross-agency training areas that would particularly benefit from new

instructional technologies and facilitate multi-agency procurement and use of training materials,

where appropriate;

(7) in consultation with the General Services Administration, the Office of Personnel

Management, and the Office of Federal Procurement Policy of the Office of Management and

Budget (OFPP), promote existing and new procurement vehicles that allow agencies to provide

innovative training opportunities for Federal employees;

(8) recommend changes that may be needed to existing procurement laws to further the

objectives of this order and forward the recommendations to the Administrator of OFPP; and

(b) develop options and recommendations for establishing a Federal Individual Training Account

for each Federal worker for training relevant to his or her Federal employment. To the extent

permitted by law, such accounts may be established with the funds allocated to the agency for

employee training. Approval for training would be within the discretion of the individual

employee’s manager. Options and recommendations shall be reported no later than 6 months from

the date of this order.

Sec. 3. Duties of All Federal Agencies. (a) Each Federal agency shall, to the extent permitted by

law:

(1) include as part of its annual budget process a set of goals to provide the highest quality and

most efficient training opportunities possible to its employees, and a set of performance measures

of the quality and availability of training opportunities possible to its employees. Such measures

should be, where appropriate, based on outcomes related to performance rather than time

allocation;

(2) identify the resources necessary to achieve the aforementioned goals and performance

measures articulated in its annual performance plan;

(3) and, where practicable, use the standards recommended by the Task Force and published by

the Office of Personnel Management for purchasing training software and associated services;

and

(4) subject to the availability of appropriations, post training courses, information, and other

learning opportunities on the Department of Labor’s America’s Learning Exchange (ALX), or

other appropriate information dissemination vehicles as determined by the Task Force, to make

information about Federal training courses, information, and other learning opportunities widely

available to Federal employees.

(b) Each Federal agency, to the extent permitted by law, is encouraged to consider how savings

achieved through the efficient use of training technology can be reinvested in improved training for

their employees.

Sec. 4. Duties of Specific Federal Agencies.

(a) In light of the Office of Personnel Management’s responsibility for developing Government-

wide training policy, coordinating and managing training policy programs, and providing technical

assistance to Federal agencies, the Office of Personnel Management or other appropriate agency as

determined by the Task Force shall:

(1) in consultation with the Task Force, the Department of Defense, the National Institute

of Standards and Technology, the Department of Labor, and other appropriate agencies as

determined by OPM, publish the standards for training software and associated services

recommended by the Task Force; and

(2) ensure that qualification standards for civil service positions, where appropriate,

reflect standard industry certification practices.

(b) The Department of Labor or other appropriate agency as determined by the Task Force shall,

subject to the availability of appropriations:

(1) establish a specialized database for Federal training within the framework of the

Department of Labor’s ALX, or other appropriate information dissemination vehicles determined

by the Task Force, to make information about Federal training courses, information, and other

learning opportunities widely available to Federal employees;

(2) establish and maintain a training technology Website for agencies to post training

needs and to foster communication among the agencies and between public and private sector

organizations to identify and meet common needs; and

(3) establish a staffed help desk and technology resource center to support Federal

agencies using training technology and to facilitate the development of online training courses.

shall:

(1) in consultation with the National Institute of Standards and Technology, lead Federal

participation in business and university organizations charged with developing consensus

standards for training software and associated services and lead the Federal review of the

standards; and

(2) provide guidance to Defense agencies and advise the civilian agencies, as appropriate,

on how best to use these standards for large-scale development and implementation of efficient

and effective distributed learning technologies.

(d) Each Executive department shall designate at least one subject area of training that it will use

to demonstrate opportunities in technology-based training and assign an agency leader in the

designated area. Leaders in these training technology experiments shall work closely with other

agencies with similar training interests. Each Executive department shall develop a plan for

measuring and evaluating the effectiveness, cost-effectiveness, and benefits to employees and the

agency for each designated subject area.

Sec. 5. Establishment of Advisory Committee on Expanding Training Opportunities.

The Advisory Committee on Expanding Training Opportunities (Committee) is established. The

Committee shall consist of not more that 20 members appointed by the President from outside the

Federal Government, including representatives of the research, education, labor, and training

communities, information technology sector, and representatives from other critical sectors. The

President shall designate Co-Chairs from among the members of the Committee.

Sec. 6. Functions of the Advisory Committee.

The Committee shall provide the President, through the Assistant to the President for Economic

Policy and the Assistant to the President for Science and Technology (Assistants to the President),

with:

(a) an independent assessment of:

(1) progress made by the Federal Government in its use and integration of technology in

training programs, particularly in the use of voluntary industry consensus-based commercial

standards for training software and associated services;

(2) how Federal Government programs, initiatives, and policies can encourage or

accelerate training technology to provide more accessible, more timely, and more cost-effective

training opportunities for all Americans;

(3) mechanisms for the Federal Government to encourage private sector investment in the

development of high-quality instructional software and wider deployment and utilization of

technology-mediated instruction so that all Americans may take advantage of the opportunities

provided by learning technology; and

(4) the appropriate Federal Government role in research and development for learning

technologies and their applications in order to develop high-quality training and education

opportunities for all Americans;

(b) an analysis of options for helping adult Americans finance the training and post-secondary

education needed to upgrade skills and gain new knowledge. Options for financial mechanisms

may include grants, tax incentives, low-interest loans, or other vehicles to make training and

post-secondary education accessible to adults throughout their lifetimes; and

training and post-secondary education for adult Americans as specified by the Assistants to the

President.

Sec. 7. Administration of the Advisory Committee.

(a) To the extent permitted by law and subject to the availability of appropriations, the Office of

Personnel Management shall provide the financial and administrative support for the Committee.

(b) The heads of Executive agencies shall, to the extent permitted by law, provide to the Committee

such information as it may require for the purpose of carrying out its functions.

Committee and may form subcommittees or working groups within the Committee to review

specific issues.

(d) Members of the Committee shall serve without compensation but shall be allowed travel

expenses, including per diem instead of subsistence, as authorized by law for persons serving

intermittently in the Government service (5 U.S.C. 5701-5707).

(e) Notwithstanding any other Executive order, the functions of the President under the Federal

Advisory Committee Act, as amended, that are applicable to the Committee, except that of

reporting to the Congress, shall be performed by the Office of Personnel Management in

accordance with guidelines that have been issued by the Administrator of General Services.

(f) The Committee shall terminate 2 years from the date of this order unless extended by the

President prior to such date.

Sec. 8. Definitions.

(a) As used in this order, the terms “agency,” “employee,” “Government,” and “training” have

the meaning given to those terms, respectively, by section 4101 of title 5, United States Code.

(b) The term “technology,” means any equipment or interconnected system or subsystem of

equipment that is used in the automatic acquisition, storage, manipulation, management,

movement, control, display, switching, interchange, transmission, or reception of data or

information, including computers, ancillary equipment, software, firmware and similar

procedures, services (including support services), and related resources. For purposes of the

preceding sentence, equipment is used by an Executive agency if the equipment is used by the

Executive agency directly or is used by a contractor under a contract with the Executive agency

that requires the use of such equipment. The term “technology” does not include any equipment

that is acquired by a Federal contractor incidental to a Federal contract.

Sec. 9. Judicial Review. This order does not create any enforceable rights against the United States,

its agencies, its officers, or any person.

WILLIAM J. CLINTON

THE WHITE HOUSE

January 12, 1999

Appendix C: Secretary of Defense DoD Training Technology Vision, January 6, 1999

President’s Federal Training Technology Initiative

Department of Defense “Training Technology Vision”

Leadership and Vision -- America’s military Services have a long tradition and a well-deserved

reputation of world-class training. For example, having highly trained service members was a key

to our overwhelming success in Operation Desert Storm. We recognize that, as in the past, training

will be the key to our success in future military operations. That is why training remains a high

priority for the U.S. Armed Forces. It is the key to their readiness. It is the reason why our

servicemen and servicewomen are the most capable in the world today. As good as we are at

training, however, we are always vigilant in seeking opportunities to become better.

The Department of Defense’s vision is to “ensure that DoD personnel have access to the highest

quality education and training that can be tailored to their needs and delivered cost effectively,

anytime and anywhere.”

In tomorrow’s dynamic threat environment, we may have to deploy our forces on a moment’s

notice, often to conduct operations that we cannot predict beforehand. We must be able to train our

forces effectively and rapidly, whether they are at home station, en route, or in the theater of

operations. This is a lofty goal.

Technology Goals -- Our education and training programs must prepare the total force to meet

national security challenges and opportunities. Training technologies, those today as well as those

on the horizon, provide an opportunity to help us achieve that goal. We must take advantage of this

opportunity if we are to maintain our competitive edge.

At the same time that training technologies hold the promise for future military success, their rapid

evolution poses a tough challenge. The rapid rate of technological change has made it necessary to

update learning materials continually to keep pace with changes in the underlying software and

hardware. Keeping up with technological change is expensive, sometimes prohibitively so.

Fortunately, technology also provides a means to meet this challenge. We have been successful in

developing a common architecture to ensure interoperability of models and simulations in

collective training. Building upon this success, we have kicked off a new DoD initiative in learning

technologies - the Advanced Distributed Learning Initiative (ADL). The ADL is a collaborative

effort to expedite production of learning materials and tools that are reusable, can run on a broad

range of hardware platforms, and can be accessed and modified over a communications network.

Partnership/Collaboration -- While we initially developed the ADL concept as a DoD solution to a

DoD problem, we quickly discovered that it offered a common solution for common problems, not

only to the military Services and Defense agencies, but to other public-sector organizations,

academic institutions, and private industry. That is why a basic tenet of ADL is to form

partnerships within and across all sectors. This will allow us to collaborate on establishing a

common framework for developing, administering, and using distributed learning content and tools.

Furthermore, ADL products will support education and performance mentoring, as well as training.

Value -- Initial indications are that ADL will provide high-quality education and training faster and

at lower costs. Over the next five years we expect ADL to increase dramatically the number of

courses that use learning technologies. Our analyses indicate that ADL may help us: reduce

classroom time by as much as 30 percent, increase student performance by as much as 20 percent,

reduce travel and per diem costs, and reduce development costs by up to 50 percent. Since the

Military Services provide over 170,000 student years of training annually in training centers, ADL

has the potential for substantial savings.

In summary, the Department of Defense is very enthusiastic about the promise of advanced

distributed learning technologies, and encouraged by the broad support we have received for the

ADL Initiative. To take full advantage of such learning technologies, we have launched a DoD-

wide effort to develop a strategy and plans for learning technology development and widespread

application. We are convinced that learning technologies will change the cost of doing business.

More importantly, we are convinced that our efforts to build this future learning environment will

pay off by continuing the Military Services’ status as world-class trainers, by enhancing the

readiness of our forces, and by ensuring that our servicemen and servicewomen remain the most

capable in the world tomorrow.

Appendix D: Excerpts from Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff

Joint Vision 2010

and

Concept for Future Joint Operations - Expanding Joint Vision 2010

To sustain the Armed Forces and instill new operational concepts will require high

quality people - the key ingredient for success. The judgment, creativity, and fortitude of our

people will remain the key to success in future joint operations. Turning concepts into

capabilities requires adapting our leadership, doctrine, education and training, organizations, and

materiel to meet the high tempo, high technology demands posed by these new concepts.

Realistic and stressful training has been the primary way to keep readiness high and

prepare our men and women to face the challenges of combat. Such training, consisting of

carefully balanced programs of individual, crew, and larger organizational training and

assessments, is central to training the way we will fight. From individual or crew mission

simulators, through full-blown field exercises at home or abroad, realistic, evaluated training is

and must remain our best combat multiplier. Joint, coalition, and combined training and

exercises have improved our interoperability and understanding of the strengths of each

individual Service as well as allies and coalition partners. From the individual warfighter to large

multinational forces, this systematic approach has enabled our men and women to hone their

skills in practice many times before ever having to perform actual combat missions. These

training innovations must be sustained.

How we respond to dynamic changes concerning potential adversaries, technological

advances and their implications, and the emerging importance for information superiority will

dramatically impact how well our Armed Forces can perform its duties in 2010.

This era will be one of accelerating technological change. Critical advances will have

enormous impact on all military forces. Successful adaptation of new and improved technologies

may provide great increases in specific capabilities.

… in all operations technological advances and our use of information will give our

warfighters at the individual, crew, and small unit levels major qualitative advantages over

potential adversaries.

In sum, by 2010 we should be able to enhance the capabilities of our forces through

technology. This will, in turn, expand our greatest advantage: the adaptability, initiative,

teamwork, and commitment of our people at every level.

Our education and training programs must prepare joint warriors to meet the challenges

of the future battlespace. These programs must emphasize employment of new technologies and

achieving the operational concepts outlined in this vision.

Enhanced modeling and simulation of the battlespace, when coupled to on the ground

evaluation with real soldiers, sailors, airmen, and marines, can improve the realism of training,

upgrade the levels of day-to-day readiness, and increase our opportunities to test innovative

concepts and new strategies. Simulations must be interconnected globally—creating a near-real-

time interactive simulation superhighway between our forces in every theater.

This global simulation network must include our Reserve and National Guard units, as

well as selected multinational partners, to increase their readiness and interoperability.

We will need a responsive research, development, and acquisition process to incorporate

new technologies. This process must leverage technology and management innovations

originating in the private sector through responsive access to commercial developments.

Today, America’s Armed Forces are the world standard for military excellence and joint

warfighting. We will further strengthen our military capabilities by taking advantage of

improved technology and the vitality and innovation of our people to prepare our forces for the

21st century.

Training and education in the future can leverage information superiority and much more

effectively use remote approaches to train large groups of geographically distributed people.

This could change how all training, from basic to advanced, is addressed in 2010.

As the active force evolves toward innovative methods of training, including interactive

simulation and links to actual planning and information systems, the RC will have to be exposed

to the same high-quality training if they are to be interoperable when activated.

New training and simulation capabilities will enable en route training for forces activated

or deployed on short notice. This will require reevaluation of routine training programs to ensure

that en route training can effectively prepare each of the various elements of the joint force for

employment on arrival in theater.

Appendix E: Deputy Secretary of Defense memorandum for DoD components, November

23, 1998, Subject: Developing and Implementing the DoD Advanced

Distributed Learning (ADL) Initiative.

MEMORANDUM FOR SECRETARIES OF THE MILITARY DEPARTMENTS

CHAIRMAN OF THE JOINT CHIEFS OF STAFF

UNDER SECRETARIES OF DEFENSE

DIRECTOR DEFENSE RESEARCH AND ENGINEERING

ASSISTANT SECRETARIES OF DEFENSE

GENERAL COUNSEL OF THE DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE

INSPECTOR GENERAL OF THE DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE

DIRECTOR OF OPERATIONAL TEST AND EVALUATION

ASSISTANTS TO THE SECRETARY OF DEFENSE

DIRECTOR OF ADMINISTRATION AND MANAGEMENT

DIRECTORS OF DEFENSE AGENCIES

DIRECTORS OF THE DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE FIELD ACTIVITIES

SUBJECT: Developing and Implementing the DoD Advanced Distributed Learning (ADL)

Initiative

The extraordinary demands that today’s dynamic international security environment places on

the Department of Defense underscore the urgent need to identify more efficient and effective

ways to educate, train, and support DoD personnel. In responding to those demands the Military

Departments, Defense Agencies, Joint Staff, and Office of the Secretary of Defense have

undertaken impressive actions to develop and apply advanced distributed learning technologies.

As a measure of our success, the President has cited DoD’s Advanced Distributed Learning

(ADL) Initiative as a model for others to follow, and the Congress wants to expand these efforts.

To ensure that we develop and implement such technologies as broadly and cost effectively

as possible, I am directing the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness

(USD(P&R)) to lead the Department’s Advanced Distributed Learning (ADL) Initiative. The

USD(P&R) will:

•

Work with the Services, Joint Staff, and other DoD Components to produce an ADL policy

for developing and implementing advanced distributed learning technologies across the

Department;

•

Develop, in coordination with the Services, Joint Staff, and DoD Components, an ADL

“master plan” that addresses the plans, programs, and procedures necessary to carry out the

policy;

•

Coordinate with the Services, USD(A&T), and the Comptroller to ensure that sufficient

programs and resources are made available to implement the ADL master plan; and

•

Provide the DoD ADL strategic report to the Congress and the ADL master plan to me not

later than February 23, 1999 and April 9, 1999 respectively.

At a minimum, the ADL master plan will provide a strategy for: using existing and emerging

network-based technologies; creating and maintaining reusable learning content; promoting and

establishing widespread collaboration within the Department of Defense, as well as with other

federal agencies and the private sector; enhancing on-the-job performance through the systematic

application of learning technologies; and developing a common technical framework for the

distributed learning environment.

I have asked Tom Longstreth, Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Readiness, to

coordinate policy oversight of these efforts. I direct the Military Departments and all concerned

to give Tom their full cooperation and provide to him the information that he requests so that I

can submit a comprehensive report to the Congress and approve a well-thought-out and feasible

master plan.

Information about the ADL Initiative is available on the worldwide Web at www.adlnet.org.

/S/

John J. Hamre

Appendix F: Presidential Executive Memorandum, January 30, 1998, Subject: Enhancing

Learning and Education Through Technology

THE WHITE HOUSE

January 30, 1998

MEMORANDUM FOR THE HEADS OF EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENTS AND AGENCIES

SUBJECT: Enhancing Learning and Education Through Technology

The Federal Government continually invests in training its employees. Federal agencies have an

obligation to provide the best training for their employees at the lowest possible cost. Federal

agency training programs should be model users of new technologies to enhance learning. Many

agencies are already improving training by using new technology effectively, but more can be

done. New instructional technologies can also make education, at work and at home, easier and

more convenient for all American workers. Federal programs that provide financial support for

lifelong learning should adapt to the new opportunities technology provides. A Federal

Government-wide effort is needed to explore how Federal programs and initiatives can better

support the use of technologies for lifelong learning. Therefore, I hereby direct as follows:

The National Economic Council (NEC), in consultation with the Chief Information Officers

Council (CIOC) as established by Executive Order 13011 of July 16, 1996, the Office of

Personnel Management (OPM) and the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP),

shall investigate how to make full use of emerging technologies to improve the cost-

effectiveness and the quality of Federal training programs. Specifically, I direct that within 6

months from the date of this memorandum the NEC, in consultation with CIOC, OPM and

OSTP, provide me a plan identifying areas in which technology-enhanced training and

learning may complement conventional Federal training and learning. The plan should

describe how the agencies, when feasible and appropriate, will:

(a)

make full use of best commercial practices when purchasing instructional software;

(b)

work with businesses, universities, and other appropriate entities to foster a

competitive market for electronic instruction;

(c)

develop a model technical approach to facilitate electronic instruction building on

existing agency efforts, such as the Advanced Distributed Learning Initiative

Partnership; and

(d)

develop and support a program of research that will accelerate the development and

adoption of new instructional technologies.

2. The Secretary of Education and the Secretary of Labor shall work together to promote

adoption of the best new ways of using technology to enhance training and education in programs

that provide Federal support for education and training.

3. The NEC, in coordination with the Office of Management and Budget, the OSTP, and

other appropriate Federal Government entities, shall develop a national strategy to promote high-

quality education and training opportunities that can be offered in a manner that is efficient,

affordable, and convenient. Industry, universities, labor unions, and other stakeholders should be

consulted in the development of the strategy. The strategy shall be completed within 6 months of

the date of this memorandum.

WILLIAM J. CLINTON

Appendix G:

GLOSSARY

AC Active Component

ACES American Continuing Education System

ACTEDS Army Civilian Training, Education, and Development System

ACOM Atlantic Command (see also USACOM)

ADLS Advanced Distributed Learning System

ADLIP Advanced Distributed Learning Implementation Plan

AEF Air Expeditionary Force

AFRL Air Force Research Laboratory

CAPTOR Crisis Action Planning Tutored On-Line Resource

CAS

Combined Arms Services Staff School

I Command, Control, Communications, Computers, and Intelligence

CD ROM compact disc - read only memory

CE constructive environment

CINCs Commanders in Chief

CJCS Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff

CNET Chief of Naval Education and Training

CNO N7 Chief Naval Operations, Director of Naval Training

COTS commercial off-the-shelf

CPMS Civilian Personnel Management Service

DAU Defense Acquisition University

DAWIA Defense Acquisition Workforce Improvement Act

DCI Director Central Intelligence

DIA Defense Intelligence Agency

DJTI Distributed Joint Training Initiative

DOCNET Doctrine Networked Education and Training

DLA Defense Logistics Agency

DoD Department of Defense

DoDEA Department of Defense Educational Activity

DOMS CoMPIO Director of Military Support, Consequence Management Program

Integration Office

DTTP Distributive Training Technology Project

DUSD(L) Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Logistics

DUSD(R ) Deputy Under Secretary for Defense for Readiness

EMS emergency medical service

EPSS Electronic Performance Support Systems

ESG Executive Steering Group

FTTI Federal Training Technology Initiative

GAO Government Accounting Office

GITS General Intelligence Training System

HAZMAT hazardous materials

IC Intelligence Community

ICW interactive courseware

IT information technology

RP Joint Command and Control Research Program

JCE JIVA Collaborative Environment

JDEIS Joint Doctrine Electronic Information System

JDOL Joint Doctrine Operations Laboratory

JDTC Joint Deployment Training Center

JEL Joint Electronic Library

J-4 Director for Logistics, Joint Staff

JIVA Joint Intelligence Virtual Architecture

JDLS Joint Digital Library System

JOS Joint Operations Simulation

JPME Joint Professional Military Education

J-6 Director for Command, Control, Communications, and Computers, Joint

Staff

J-7 Director for Operational Plans and Interoperability, Joint Staff

JTA Joint Technical Architecture

JTASC Joint Training and Simulation Center

JTF Joint task force

JVLE Joint Virtual Learning Environment

JV 2010 Joint Vision 2010

JWFC Joint Warfighting Center

KBS knowledge based system

MarineNet Marine Corps Learning Network

NATO North Atlantic Treaty Organization

NCS-21 National Cryptologic Strategy for the 21

Century

NCW network centric warfare

NDU National Defense University

NSA National Security Agency

OPMEP Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (CJCS) Instruction CJCSI 1800.01 re

Joint Staff oversight of JPME

OPTEMPO operational tempo

OSD Office of the Secretary of Defense

OSTP Office of Science and Technology Policy

OTL Object Training Library

PERSTEMPO personnel tempo

PfP Partnership for Peace

PME Professional Military Education

PTI Presidential Technology Initiative

QDR Quadrennial Defense Review

RAID Rapid Assessment and Initial Detection

RC Reserve component

R&D research and development

R-NET Marine Reserve Network

SAP Simplified Acquisition Procedure

SDLN Secure Distance Learning Network

TADLP Total Army Distance Learning Program

TEPOP Training and Education Point of Presence

TFDLAT Total Force Distributed Learning Action Team

TRADOC U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command

TRANSCOM U.S. Transportation Command

USACOM United States Atlantic Command (see also ACOM)

USD(A&T) Under Secretary for Defense for Acquisition and Technology

USD(P&R) Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness

USMC United States Marine Corps

VE virtual environment

VRML Virtual Reality Modeling Language

VTT videoteletraining

WAN wide area network

WMD Weapons of Mass Destruction

WWW World-Wide Web