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TIA Learning Content Management of the Year: U.S. Joint Forces Command Joint Warfighting Center
November 21, 2008
By Margery Weinstein
Vendor: Joint Knowledge Development and Distribution Capability
Challenge: In the past, distributed learning efforts focused on creation of compliant new content as opposed to leveraging existing content and capabilities. The Shareable Content Object Reference Model (SCORM) standard and the Advanced Distributed Learning Registry (ADL-R) make it possible to find and repurpose content from a technical standpoint in terms of platform/server interoperability; however, registry and reuse of content is lagging, and Department of Defense Initiative (DODI) 1322.26, "Development, Management, and Delivery of Distributed Learning," compliance is difficult due to issues such as legacy systems and transition hurdles, availability of funds to buy the tools needed, cost and schedule risks inherent to new system development, and licensing fees.
Solution: The Joint Knowledge Development and Distribution Capability's (JKDDC) Joint Content Manage-ment Architecture comprising Government-Off-The-Shelf (GOTS) course development, indexing, and management tools as a cost-effective, comprehensive approach to enabling DODI 1322.26 compliance, providing a platform for making content reuse a reality, and ultimately advancing the field of distributed learning. Prior to attaining distance learning capability, the joint training environment was decentralized across the Department of Defense (DOD) and characterized by resident "schoolhouse" training with limited coordination. This training approach was costly and inefficient as service members and reservists had to travel to military training centers across America. Today, global access to Web-based joint training courses is delivered to service men and women, as well as multinational and interagency coalition partners serving in joint operations, security cooperation, disaster response, and humanitarian relief operations. Online training improved the number of service members receiving joint training, and significantly increased the amount of training content available to members of DOD, interagency, multinational, and inter-governmental organizations. JKDDC shares a reciprocal relationship with the DOD Advanced Distributed Learning (ADL) initiative, a key enabler of the application of distributed learning for joint training. ADL establishes the necessary interoperability standards, tools, and unifying infrastructure. JKDDC's Joint Content Management Architecture is an enterprise solution that meets all major ADL requirements and builds a reusable content registry and repository of joint context learning content. This facilitates more effective and efficient development, storage, and delivery of ADL content for distributed learning stakeholders. The architecture centerpiece is the learning management system (LMS), which provides the backbone for the hosting, distribution, enrollment, completion, and tracking of ADL courses offered by JKO. The LMS integrates with the ADL registry (ADL-R), so courses loaded into the LMS are forwarded to the ADL-R in compliance with DODI information management standards.
Results: Compared to the industry standard for schoolhouse delivery of training ($250 per hour) for a commensurate number of similar hours, the operational fielding of the JKO distance learning capability has returned an estimated $50 million in cost savings. Since the April 2007 launch, JKDDC/JKO has reduced distribution costs, (i.e., the money spent on activities required to make distance learning courses available to the end user) from $300 per hour to less than $4 per hour (based on the number of users per courses completed). In addition, JKDDC reduced courseware development costs (i.e., costs associated with activities to produce and host ADL-compliant courseware on JKO) from $34,000 per hour to $10,000 per hour. The average cost of training received through JKO is approximately $35 per hour and continues to drop.
Vital training is being provided more efficiently to the Combatant Commands. For example, U.S. Forces Korea requires all military and civilians to complete mandatory training prior to arrival in their theater of operations. JKDDC worked with them in converting this training to JKO. The Commander of U.S. Forces Korea credited the JKO with providing the means to meet this training requirement, and reducing the time needed to complete the original required course by 50 percent. Training for military reservists also was enhanced. The Joint Individual Augmentee Training (JIAT) Program, designed to prepare Individual Augmentees for Joint Task Force Headquarters assignments, transitioned from residential to online training. This transition resulted in a reduction in time and cost to train augmentees, and an increase in the number of augmentees receiving training prior to deployment. Further, the organization is tailoring "generic" Individual Augmentee training to Area of Operation-specific (AOR) training, most recently for Horn of Africa, Afghanistan, and Iraq pre-deployment training. Whereas U.S. Joint Forces Command Joint Warfighting Center previously averaged eight trainees per month with resident training, it now is training on average 27 reservists per month with the AOR-tailored training curriculum.
Judges' Comments:
• Enables a Rapid Online Content Creation Environment (ROCCE).
• Import courses can be created in XML, reworked, and then republished.
• Provides quarterly updates of the platform (coordinated across the services and combatant commands).
• Boasts strong savings metrics.
• Offers accelerated large-scale deployment that reaches learners in remote areas.
• Enhances the use of ADL standards and makes use of SCORM standards.
• Promotes integrated collaboration across agencies.
Editor's Note: Be sure to read all of Training's TIA 2008 winner profiles at Trainingmag.com.
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