E-learning in the Military

Several years ago I worked with a student who had to finish his masters degree aboard a naval vessel he commanded in the South Pacific. So I was curious about the courses that the military offers to its personnel. This article discusses the Army's e-learning program. I was amazed at the cost-savings of this program plus I liked the fact that the courses are free to active Army soldiers and National Guardsmen.

Army e-Learning Program
In today's fast-paced environment, it's difficult to find the time or the inclination to participate in structured training. From the Army command perspective, in many cases, it is neither fiscally responsible nor mission compatible to send people from their duty stations to complete required training.
Of even greater concern to Army leadership was the fact that traditional methods used for training its information technology (IT) workforce were not keeping up with demand.
So, in 1999, retired Lieutenant General William H. Campbell, the Army chief information officer (CIO), set a goal of maximizing the availability of training/technology for the IT workforce. He anticipated that online training would result in a cost savings to the Army.
That assumption has been more than fulfilled by the Army e-Learning program.
"An Army Audit Agency report from February of this year determined that over the last three fiscal years, the Army has saved approximately $86 million," said Stan Davis, project officer, Army e-Learning. "In fiscal year 2004, Army soldiers and civilians completed over 159,000 courses resulting in an estimated savings of over $47 million dollars. Assuming a constant rate of savings over the next three years, the Army would save an additional $142 million."
The courses are free to every active Army soldier and civilian, in addition to Army National Guardsmen, reservists and ROTC cadets who need information technology or information assurance training. SkillSoft Corp., with U.S. headquarters in Nashua, NH, is the vendor responsible for offering Army members more than 2,000 commercial, Web-based courses related to information technology, business, leadership and professional development, according to Willard J. Scott, the Army project manager at SkillSoft.
Online Degrees for Military Advancement
Register for a U.S. Army e-Learning Account To register or login to this program, click here. All users must have an AKO User ID and Password prior to registering for the Army Program. AKO registration is at: http://www.us.army.mil
Business courses range from accounting to administrative support and human resources; leadership courses are in areas such as project management and team building; and professional development courses include subjects such as effective communication and time management. The IT library includes training from Microsoft Office to security and system administration, network management, application development and Web site management.