A revolution in the classroom

  • Published
  • By Capt. John Severns
  • Air Education and Training Command Public Affairs
RANDOLPH AIR FORCE BASE, Texas (AFNS) --  In an era where computers and the Internet have changed almost every aspect of daily life, from shopping to working to entertainment, is it time for technology to change the way Airmen learn?

For younger Airmen, it seems, the answer is yes.

Air Education and Training Command officials recently announced the results of the Future Learning Survey, conducted in June and July at Keesler Air Force Base, Miss. The survey gauged respondents' familiarity with and attitude toward 29 different technologies, from the common ones such as laptops, cell phones and email, to the cutting-edge technologies like wikis, blogs and virtual avatars.

Although not startling, the survey confirmed what many people have long suspected:  younger Airmen and Airmen in technical career fields are more familiar with new technologies. Younger Airmen also use personal computers, social networking sites, blogs and text messaging more frequently than their older counterparts.

Most importantly, though, survey respondents were nearly unanimous in their belief that it is time to use those new technologies to enhance training and performance.

"We're not talking about futuristic, unachievable technologies," said Maj. Gen. Erwin F. Lessel III, director of plans, programs, requirements and assessments for AETC. "We're talking about technologies you can buy at the store or online, technologies that the young men and women we're recruiting into the Air Force have grown up with."

The Air Force, according to officials, has long been a pioneer of new technologies. The service itself was born from a new technology -- powered flight -- that fundamentally changed how wars are waged.

Airmen's embrace of new technologies hasn't just been in the air or on the battlefield. Training, especially pilot training, has come a long way since the early 20th century.

"I remember the first simulator I flew during pilot training," General Lessel said. "The visual display consisted of a camera and a terrain model board, and as I flew the 'airplane' the camera actually came down to the model runway as I landed. That was the state of technology in the 1970s."

But now officials are looking for a revolution to take place in its future "classrooms," a revolution at the hands of a new generation of Airmen -- "digital natives," as they are called -- who grew up with computers and can comfortably navigate the electronic cyberways of the Internet.

"A revolution in military affairs requires three things," General Lessel said, "Changes in concepts, changes in technologies and changes in organizations." 

Training, officials say, is ready for a revolution.

The survey comes on the heels of a white paper developed by General Lessel's office and released by Gen. Stephen R. Lorenz, the AETC commander, in January, titled "On Learning: the Future of Air Force Education and Training." 

The paper describes a future Air Force where many traditional aspects of the AETC mission -- to recruit, train and educate -- have been augmented or entirely replaced by virtual programs. 

Rather than attending professional military education in a class at Maxwell AFB, Ala., a junior captain might take classes online and interact with classmates with chat, voice or video programs. Rather than walking to a local recruitment center, a young woman interested in joining the Air Force might interact with a virtual recruiter online, and not even meet a service member face-to-face until reporting to basic military training. 

General Lessel was quick to point out that some things, like BMT, always will be done in person, adding that military training instructors bring a personal touch to training that just can't be simulated.

If some of this sounds familiar, it's because Air Force officials already have taken some first steps in that direction. Tens of thousands of students take or graduate from distance learning programs, and every year more and more training migrates out of classrooms and onto computers.

Air Force officials began looking into the online universe of social networking Web sites two years ago, launching a MySpace page in August 2006. The site was taken down just under a month later when they concluded that it just wasn't a good fit.

"Not everything we pursue in terms of an experiment, prototype or pilot project is something that we know will be a success," General Lessel said of the MySpace trial. "But the purpose of the experiment is to find out what works and what doesn't. After all, it's all about learning ."

The AETC white paper and the Future Learning Survey both addressed new concepts in learning. The technologies in question, while impressive, have been around long enough to prove their worth.  E-mail has been around longer than the Web, and virtual avatars have 'existed' since the 1990s. So what's holding the Air Force back from its revolution in the classroom?

The answer, according to the General Lessel, is organizational change.

"The biggest challenge we have is going to be with organizational changes," the general said. 

Changes to the service's organization and processes will allow the Air Force to adopt and adapt new technologies for the classroom.  But if the organizations can change to incorporate new technologies, he said, the sky's the limit on what the Air Force can achieve.

At Luke AFB, Ariz., some of these concepts and technologies are already making an impact. There, specialists with AETC and the Air Force Research Lab successfully tested a new program to connect pilots flying F-16 Fighting Falcons over the Barry Goldwater range in Arizona with pilots in simulators on the ground. Using the Link-16 datalink, simulator pilots and pilots in the air were all able to interact with computer generated targets. In effect, the pilots conducted an eight-plane engagement with only four live planes in flight.

Closer to home for most Airmen, command officials are looking to increase the number of classes available via distance learning. Over the next two years, they plan to convert more than 3,300 hours of classroom instruction time to computer-based distance learning. With an initial investment of $24 million, the command hopes to find savings and efficiencies worth up to $7 million a year, starting in 2010.

The Air Force has come a long way from the wood and canvas trainers of the Army Signal Corps. And while there will probably always be a role for the classroom in Air Force education and training, the "digital natives" have shown they are ready for a change.

The following were some of the key findings from the Future of Learning survey conducted at Keesler AFB.

Integration and development:

97 percent said it was important to integrate new technologies to enhance training and performance

95 percent said it was important to develop innovative approaches for education and training 

Technology:

90 percent indicated a PC/laptop should be used in training in some way

94 percent reported using blogs

Training:

65 percent felt online gaming provides encouragement to join the military

70 percent would be willing to complete some BMT courses over the Internet prior to in residence

Virtual Environments and Avatars:

93 percent felt a virtual view of bases online would be beneficial

60 percent felt large-scale virtual operational exercises online would enhance readiness

58 percent felt avatars could be effective mentors

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