Nco structured self_development_brief.ppt

Editor's Notes

• #32: Define SSD Describe how SSD links self-development needs to NCO professional development Show how Structured ,continuous learning impacts the Army Explain the how, when and where SSD is implemented into a Soldier’s Career
• #34: With the NCO 4x6 serving as the foundation for what we need to learn, we now turn our focus to what the learning environment may look like by 2015 and how learning might occur in the future. The ALC 2015 provides guidance about making more of our learning experiences centered on solving problems that Soldiers are likely to encounter while also making some changes to the learning system so that each individual may reach their potential. General Dempsey emphasizes that all training and education needs be relevant and rigorous. We must challenge our Soldiers in meaningful ways so that they continue to grow throughout their careers. If you read the learning concept, it describes things like leveraging technology such as mobile phones to improve access to learning materials, blending face-to-face and online learning, and using more immersive scenario-based learning. The main point of all of those things is to create learning experiences where Soldiers are actively engaged in learning things that are important rather than simply having them sit through another class where an instructor reads bullets on a slide. As we consider how many of those concepts may play out in NCO development, there are a few key ideas that I want to present to you. The first is the notion that we need to make individuals more responsible for guiding their owning learning paths. In order to do that, we need to have valid and reliable ways to rapidly assess a Soldier’s skills and knowledge. Those assessments will provide Soldiers feedback about their performance and then direct them to the resources that they may use to continue to develop areas that need improvement. The same approach will help us tailor learning during online and resident instruction to try to ensure that each Soldier is challenged to improve. The assessment data should also help unit leaders guide individual development during unit training. We realize that we have a long way to go to reach a point where we can do those things, but we think it is critical if we are going make each learning experience relevant and rigorous for more of the force. As we use more technology for learning, we want to be careful that we do not lose peer-to-peer and informal learning that has always been the strength of the Corps. We do realize that collaboration and social learning will increasing be mediated by some form of technology and we need to get better at planning how we can leverage that technology for knowledge management, performance support, and social interactions that cause learning. We also think there will be increased value in allowing our Soldiers to contribute more of the materials that we use in the institution, unit and self-development for learning. Technologies like Milsuite that includes wikis, blogs, videos will allow Soldiers to not only collaborate for learning, but to also develop materials that others Soldiers can use in the future. Many of our younger soldiers are adept at developing multimedia products that can easily be leveraged by the learning system. While we leverage Soldier-created materials to keep our learning content relevant, we cannot lose the key role that expert NCOs have on developing Soldiers. In the institution, we need to do a better job of selecting, developing and managing our best NCOs to serve as instructors and learning facilitators. As we transition from lessons where the instructor merely delivers information, to learning activities that require facilitators with expert knowledge, we need to ensure that we get our best NCOs involved in building the future force. Similarly, in units, we need our NCOs to reemphasize their role as coaches and mentors that help guide and shape the development of junior leaders. We also believe that in the future, we will be able to do a better job of capturing expert knowledge, particularly in technical areas, and then build that knowledge into intelligent tutoring systems that will aid Soldiers as the learn.