Government Elearning - Spring 2009 - (Page 42)

casestudyscorm Guardsmen, almost all of whom have full-time jobs outside of the military. The solution was to establish the 40week Advanced Joint Professional Military Education Course (AJPME) which uses Blackboard products for 37 weeks of distance learning in combination with three weeks in residence at JFSC in Norfolk, Va. LONG DISTANCE ACCULTURATION During the first 12 weeks of the distance learning segment of the AJPME program, students work individually through the Blackboard system. After that, they enter an intensive interactive period, during which they work collaboratively with remote colleagues from other branches of the services. This includes exercises creating organizational policies and working on operational art case studies. Even though the majority of the course occurs in the distance learning environment, Dr. Ken Pisel, Dean of the Joint Continuing and Distance Education School (JCDES), says that stronger relationships are being established between the varChallenge Respond to the changing military environment by extending joint professional military education to members of the National Guard. Solution Combine distance learning with three weeks in residence at a military educational center in Norfolk, Va. tor at JFSC. Describing the interface between its SCORM repository and the Blackboard Content System, he says, “It used to take a day-and-a-half to two days every month to upload updates and revisions to all the different lessons. With content packages already in the system, we enter a ‘Since getting to know the other branches of the service is critical to joint operations, the online environment is really facilitating that goal.’ —Dr. Ken Pisel, dean, JCDES ious branches of the military: “With the old in-residence program, we had a farewell dinner, and everyone would promise to stay in touch but never did. Our participants are used to being in contact online, so they’re maintaining the relationships they establish even after the course has ended. Since getting to know the other branches of the services is critical to joint operations, the online environment is really facilitating that goal.” The results of a pre- and post-course survey illustrate the effectiveness of the program. Pisel says that initially it is possible to determine which branch of the service respondents are from by examining the location of their answers plotted on a scatter diagram. By the end of the course, however, the points on the diagram tend to cluster together, indicating that participants have successfully taken into account the strengths and concerns of the other branches. FIRST SCORM COMPLIANCY At the same time that AJPME was being developed, the Department of Defense established the Shareable Content Object Reference Model (SCORM) as the standard for electronic content. The SCORM compatibility of JFSC courses at NDU has greatly streamlined the process of developing and revising content to stay up to date with changing strategies, techniques and world events. Greg Frederick is a courseware programmer, multimedia developer and Blackboard administracontent location, click, and it’s uploaded right away.” SCORM compliance and the resulting ease of object manipulation are further illustrated by the inclusion of multimedia presentations as part of AJPME. Participants in the in-residence Joint and Combined War Fighting School had direct access to the experience and expertise of on-site three- and four-star senior fellows who were part of the program. Since that kind of direct contact is not possible in the distance learning environment, Pisel recorded interviews with these senior fellows, created sound bytes and inserted them into the AJPME lessons. He also recounts being able to include other outside material quickly and easily. “We were able to adapt one particular multimedia operational art case study in three days. It would have taken several months to develop a similar presentation from scratch without SCORM,” he says. To learn more about Blackboard’s Professional Education Solutions, visit the Website www.blackboard.com/ProEd or telephone (888) 719-6123. 42 Spring 2009 Government Elearning! http://www.blackboard.com/ProEd

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Government Elearning - Spring 2009

Government Elearning - Spring 2009 Contents Publisher's Note News Stimulus News DOL Expands E-learning Government Service Rating Second Life as Art Deals People on the Move Trendlines Currency and Learning Technology, Part 1 Learning Preferences at NNSA E-learning Goes Public Case Study: Arlington Case Study: BT Group Case Study: JFS College New Products Products Exit Poll Last Word

Government Elearning - Spring 2009

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