Making Improvements to The Army Distributed Learning Program

Abstract : The Army Distributed Learning Program (TADLP), established in 1998, is part of the Army's training and leader development system and supports execution of the Army's training and leader development strategies. Distributed learning (DL) enhances and extends traditional approaches to learning by making use of multiple means and technologies to enable the delivery of training and learning wherever and whenever soldiers and leaders need it. Despite a growing recognition of the role to be played by DL, resources for producing courseware within TADLP are limited and declining. In 2008, TADLP received only enough funding to develop a small fraction of the total institutional requirement. Further, as of January 2008, funding for TADLP for FY 2006 through FY 2011 had decreased by 40 percent from the amount budgeted three years earlier. Moreover, budget figures reveal that the production of DL courseware is receiving less emphasis over time, with a greater proportion of TADLP funds going toward the Army Learning Management System (ALMS) and DL classrooms. Considering the growing importance of DL within the Army's training, in FY 2007-2008, the Army's Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC) asked RAND Arroyo Center to assess TADLP's performance and provide options for improvement, both in the near and longer terms. By agreement with the sponsor, the project focused on the courseware that most directly supports readiness.