Exciting future for e-learning
in the MOD
Article by Lt. Sarah Buck, Royal Navy
In June 2004,
the MOD awarded to British Telecom plc the Defence e-learning Delivery
and Management Capability contract. The Capability has been launched
under the banner of the Ministry of Defence’s (MoD) Defence
Learning Portal (DLP) – Anyone Anywhere Anytime and is currently
Europe’s largest e-learning programme. Management of the DLP
is undertaken through the Defence Centre of Training Support (DCTS)
at RAF Halton, near Aylesbury, with the Defence Corporate Business
Applications IPT providing the procurement support services.
The £46 million, 10-year contract is being delivered incrementally,
enabling MoD to develop the necessary internal business support
services that this major change in training delivery will require.
The capability will eventually be available to everyone in the MoD,
both military and civilian, with an estimated user base of 300,000
personnel by 2010.
The capability has at its heart services to deliver a single Learning
Management System (LMS) and Learning Content Management System (LCMS).
It will also include learning management information and an environment
for storing, managing and developing re-usable e-learning courseware.
The first stage of delivery was achieved on 31 March this year
with the provision of LMS services over the MoD’s Intranet
(the Defence Fixed Telecommunications Services Restricted LAN Interconnect).
The first courses are being delivered over the LMS and major programmes
will use DLP to deliver Defence-wide training over the coming months.
DLP will use SumTotal software products for the LMS and LCMS and
will initially support SCORM v1.2. As other software releases become
ratified, the service will move to support the SCORM 2004 standard.
Access for learners and developers will be via the Intranet and
by the end of the year learners will have access via the Internet
as well.
It has always been recognised that one of the MoD’s highest
priorities is to train people for military operations. That training
includes development of attributes such as leadership, teamwork,
ethos and courage, which predominately requires human interaction.
Consequently the MoD has always adopted a blended policy to learning
but is now taking a more progressive approach to e-learning in order
to exploit known benefits and to explore uncharted opportunities
without undermining its current output. Therefore, whilst traditional
classroom based methods will never be entirely redundant in the
MoD, both web enabled and non-web enabled e-learning will add considerably
to the overall efficiency and effectiveness of the learning process.
The introduction of the DLP will enable Defence to use leading
edge technology to deliver world-class training in the largest and
most exciting project of its kind in Europe.
The Defence Academy e-Learning Symposia taking place at Shrivenham
on 12 and 13 October 2005 will serve as a showcase to highlight
what the DLP and its support structures have to offer, including
lessons learnt to date and future plans.
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