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Thursday, April 28, 2011

The Most Important Task in the UJTL

In a parallel to Matt 22: 34-36,

  

"What is the most important task in the UJTL?"

 

I submit it is

SN 7.4.3  Conduct Professional Education and Training.

 

Task Description: To provide adequate preparation, effective presentation and practice, and thorough evaluation of joint, Service, collective, and individual tasks being executed. It includes educating officers and enlisted personnel in established military education institutions, such as Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC), Service academies, senior joint and Service colleges, staff colleges, noncommissioned officer academies, and technical schools. Close cooperation between the educational and training communities is required to focus training and educational objectives on common goals and reduce redundancy. A key link between the educational and training communities and the Universal Joint Task List (UJTL). Graduates of both professional military education (PME) and joint professional military education (JPME) should understand the concept and intent of the UJTL. The concept of continuing education is then required at every echelon to reinforce the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (CJCS) JPME by planning and conducting professional development. (CJCSI 1800.01, CJCSI 3500.02A, JP 0-2).

  

On that understanding rests all other capabilities-based programs and the concept of "Transformation."

  

We should propose that DOD mandate a return to UJTL and METL education so DRRS and other programs can do what Congress intended:

  

Be joint, enable measuring and trending performance and continuous improvement, be "near real time" and take advantage in advances in information systems.  Since the mid 1990's there has been an explosion in Data Warehousing and "Analytics."

  

That's what the UJTL/ METL were built for.

 

We - DRC for sure I believe- are among the few who understand....

  
8:30 am edt          Comments

Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Other Applications of the METL Concept
What is your mission?

(Recall that the UJTL says a "mission" is a "Task with a purpose.")

Perhaps your mission is to reach an an educational goal?

Consider this concept:

Could educators really benefit from a METL based approach? 

They tend not to focus on, or are confused about, the mission – educating children – and instead get lost in the details of trying to “try out” or implement somebody’s “good idea” for a particular program, rather than taking a holistic approach.  

 If the mission is educating children, then what are the standards and what are the conditions? 

What are the critical tasks? (i.e. Assess aptitude and skill level to identify gaps, Plan instruction to bridge gaps, Deliver the instruction, Assess progress). 

What are the enabling tasks?  (i.e. Provide environment conducive to learning, transport students to and from, etc., etc.)
 

Some examples of business requirements that need to be supported by Enterprise Data warehouses and information management systems include:

Tracking student populations by region, district, and school in terms of: 
-
Demographics (Age, Gender, Racial/Ethnic background, Socio-Economic status, etc.), 
-
Special needs (both physical and mental), including enrollment in an Individual Education Plan (IEP)
- Test scores on aptitude (i.e. IQ tests) and progress assessment (i.e. basic skills tests to measure progress against state/federal standards) – This is a BIGGIE!
- Details on testing given (when, where, by whom, under what conditions, etc.)
- Eligibility for and use of vouchers/state provided scholarships
- Mode of transportation to and from school
- Enrolled in reduced cost lunch program
- Eligibility for enrollment 
- Tracking teacher populations  by region, district, and school in terms of: 
               - Demographics
 
               - Educational credentials and certifications
               - Experience and years of service                
               - Training received (especially state and federally mandated training)
               
               - Salary history and all relevant HR records (benefits, emergency contacts, etc.)
 
              
- Recording and tracking registration and attendance 

- Recording and tracking grades and GPA’s. 

- Generating Report Cards.
 

- Curriculum and lesson plan development 

- Recording and tracking test scores on basic skills assessments 

- Online delivery of education (blended learning concepts) 

- Cost accounting (tracking fixed and variable costs by region, district, school) 

- Payroll and accounts payable -Funding sources and distribution 

- Disseminating information via external and internal web sites by district and school.

 (From DRC's Britt Bray, expert in the Mission & Means Framework)


DRC supported the establishment and operation of the standards-based Navy Warfare Training System.

In each case, the process followed ISTD/ ADDIE models of defining the mission requirements by answering three basic questions:

            What does the “trainee” (team, unit, group, etc) really need to do (knowledge, skills, and abilities)? The “Tasks.”

            How well do they need to do it? The “Standards” to balance and propel excellence.

            What tools, equipment, systems, etc. have they been given to complete the necessary tasks?

By focusing first on the end product, educators and trainers can assemble the path to mastery-even allowing time for experimentation and discovery.  In that manner, students learn to adapt to various circumstances.

Ensuring that the first performance is correct sets the tone for the rest of the course.  We stress making sure step one is a perfect as possible so when it must be performed in emergencies, it is reflexive. 

The answers to those now help us employ targeted business processes to determine the training requirements and supporting information systems:

Functional needs analyses focus on the overall results desired and define what parameters must be monitored and tracked by smart systems that help organize, track, and project student performance.  Sample questions: Which methods produced better performance and what was the % increase per dollar invested?

Curricula requirements include scheduling, course loads and throughput capacities. 

Functional solutions analyses uses proposed training “methods, modes, and means” to determine numbers/ course loads, schedules, trainers, simulator maintainers, etc.  Plus, they lead to decisions for information management and knowledge retention systems.   

A major part of the business process was discovering opportunities to measure and track employment of the four phases of Kirkpatrick’s Training Evaluation model:

1. Reaction

2. Learning

3. Behavior

4. Results

The “third and fourth” layers of Kirkpatrick are where the rubber meets the road: How well did the graduate perform out there?  What did we miss?  Are post-course surveys enough?  What actions have been traced back to a training deficiency or solution?  Business solutions were needed to focus on these - relational databases and displays of individual, team or peer group performance histories and trends.

A key is to apply that feedback to develop course corrections.  With linked information performance and management systems, near-real-time updates can be made. Moreover, often, the “Live” performance results in issues that must be confronted systematically with the Training piece only part of the systems solution. 

Sometimes – and now more often- constraints on live training, drive us to simulation.  Having the whole “mission” picture allows us to develop realistic and challenging simulators that reflect many of the sensory perceptions one would get in a live event.  Those become “requirements” to build into models and simulations.  And training assessment can include evaluation of the effectiveness of the models and simulations.  Debriefs of folks from the battlefields and fleets provide the feedback to develop more realistic scenarios.

Another part of the “training requirements” is the need for an evaluation, assessment, and feedback system to enable the “virtuous learning” cycle.  Measuring performance against clearly stated mission objectives allows us to prepare force for eventual mission success.  Linked information and performance management systems could assist decision makers in their pursuits of excellence.



8:36 pm edt          Comments

Monday, April 25, 2011

Welcome to METLs.com
For those who have watched (perhaps in horror) as we took a simple idea and made it so complex that no one understands it- (e.g. not even a Caveman can do it!).  This site is dedicated to turning us back to basics.

METLs are all about Command!

METLs - mission-essential task lists- are a method to state mission performance requirements and tie together all concepts for training, capabilities- even architecture frameworks, lessons learned, and readiness across all of the tools of "DOTMLPF & P."

METLs are all about winning and building the confidence we can win!

Take the Seven Steps trip to begin to figure out how they help in many ways. 

These threads will help us better lay out the answers to questions such as:

How do we define the "end state" in mission planning?

How do we know we're "winning"?

METLs are all about performance!

How do we measure progress and what terms/ parameters are key?

And as you will see, there are burning questions about the systems and programs spawned from the concept of the UJTL.
10:22 am edt          Comments


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