Goals

Along with FAI, NAPM (National Association of Purchasing Management) and ASU (Arizona State University's College of Business and Information Technology Departments) will develop and maintain an internet-based 21st Century Distributed Learning Environment, incorporating both current and leading-edge technologies, to benefit both the public and private sector acquisition communities. A digital infrastructure will be developed to distribute training, education, and mentoring programs, as well as online performance support tools.

Concurrent with development and deployment of asynchronous digital training utilizing existing ubiquitous technologies, significant research and development will be undertaken to discover those synchronous and asynchronous teaching methodologies to best deliver training in the 21st century. Over the next five years, various educational, instructional, mentoring, and performance support products and programs will be designed, developed, tested, adjusted, and rolled out. As new technologies are discovered through the R&D; effort throughout the five-year period, they will be incorporated into the Distributed Learning Environment.

Additionally, feasibility studies will be conducted to ascertain whether a fifth module of the NAPM Certification Examination (C.P.M.), or a different version of the current exam, should be developed and deployed to enable federal procurement personnel to become C.P.M.s with a concentration in federal procurement.

In summary, a number of initiatives will transpire concurrently throughout the lifetime of this grant:

  1. Develop digital infrastructure for, and begin deploying, acquisition and business college credit courses
  2. Research and test leading-edge online learning applications; continually incorporate into courses
  3. Research feasibility of professional certification for federal acquisition workforce

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Process

  • Review current instructional programs developed / delivered by FAI
  • Incorporate instructional design elements and adult learning principles for computer-based education
  • Consult with academic and practitioner subject matter experts to write current case studies
  • Convert programs to internet deliverable courses for college credit
  • Incorporate existing, and expand upon, online mentoring program
  • Continually conduct research and development on leading-edge online applications; begin including into, and upgrading, courses and mentoring programs
  • Concurrently, investigate feasibility of revising and/or adding on to existing Certified Purchasing Manager (C.P.M.) exam to enable professional certification for federal acquisition personnel

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Audience

  • Federal government acquisition personnel interested in continuing their education and lifelong learning
  • Other public sector acquisition staff
  • Others interested in private and commercial purchasing, supply management, and acquisition
  • Public and private sector employees interested in college-credit education in the various disciplines of business management
  • College students interested in making procurement, acquisition, purchasing, supply management a career choice

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Problem: Traditional Classroom Training Alone Cannot Meet the Need

  • Most Federal departments and agencies are having great difficulty in funding the tuition and travel costs of classroom training for the relatively few entry level employees ‹ let alone the tens of thousands of employees who need retraining.
  • Given tight staffing constraints, many managers and supervisors are reluctant to release employees for one to two week blocks of training. Current downsizing and rightsizing initiatives will make them still more reluctant to enroll their employees even in the most critical courses.
  • When they are trained at all, employees are not being trained when they need the training ‹ namely when assigned critical contracting duties that they have never performed or that have substantially changed since last performed.
  • One to two week blocks of training do not provide an ideal learning environment. Trainees often report difficulty in completing reading and homework assignments, given textbooks that range from 200 to 500 pages and are not available until the students arrive at class sites. Likewise, instructors are often hard pressed to accomplish all learning objectives in such tight confines. As a consequence, there is often little time available for student-teacher interaction outside the confines of the structured exercises.
  • The ideal learning environment is that provided by colleges and universities, in which students attend courses that stretch over a quarter or semester, with ample time between class sessions for reading and talking with instructors. However, the Government has generally avoided this approach because of the difficulties in scheduling attendance by the employees off-site at college classrooms throughout a quarter or semester.
  • The federal acquisition workforce is in need of a valid, professional certification recognition program in procurement and acquisition.

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Solution

Solutions for the stated problems will be researched, solutions will be developed, and internet-based training and educational programs will be produced through a cooperative agreement in accordance with the Federal Grant and Cooperative Agreement Act 31 U.S.C. 6305, with Arizona State University and the National Association for Purchasing Management.

This joint project will address the need through a coordinated, multi-year program to:

  1. Identify and adapt existing -- and develop continually emerging new-millenium -- core technologies infrastructure for development and delivery of leading-edge internet-based education.
  2. Revise current, and develop new, educational content and evolving distance educational methods for training, education, and mentoring of federal and private sector professionals engaged in acquisition disciplines.
  3. Develop and implement an infrastructure to deliver such content to professionals seeking college-credit courses and degrees, as well as lifelong learning and on-the-job performance aids and mentoring.
  4. Investigate, and pilot, methods to customize training modules and information to individual agencies and/or organizations.
  5. Conduct an integrated program of assessment to evaluate alternative educational
  6. Provide public domain curricula and technologies that can be used by public agencies, private business organizations, and educational institutions.
  7. Determine the feasibility of offering professional certification to federal acquisition personnel.*

(* NOTE: Initial interview and job analysis results will reside in the public domain. All exam questions and answers will be copyrighted by NAPM, remain NAPM intellectual property, and will NOT be in the public domain.)

This program will leverage existing technological and methodological capabilities and plans in all three organizations, and will deliver -- using best practices -- a large variety of cost-effective ($100 to $1 ROI as measured by the FAI and the GSA) educational products for both college-credit and lifelong professional education and mentoring.

In addition, through ongoing collaboration with the Defense Acquisition University (DAU), the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), Chief Information Officers Council (CIOC), the National Economic Council (NEC), and the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), and in support of the Advanced Distributed Learning Initiative Partnership, we will be working to upgrade, and add value to, the constantly changing training and education needs of our national workforce.

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Objectives

  • Develop online curricula and electronic performance support tools for acquisition disciplines, accessible through personal computers, PDAs, and other such devices:
  • Some courses could be almost entirely electronic (with students connected to instructors through interactive television, bulletin boards, and other such technologies).
  • Some courses may be hybrids (e.g., electronic instruction coupled with one or two days of classroom instruction, CD-ROMs/videos, audio/videoconferencing, etc.).
  • Some courses would remain entirely in the classroom (e.g., Negotiation Techniques).
  • Preserve the following characteristics of more traditional instructional settings:
  • A formal curriculum.
  • Definitive periods to complete each course (which might be as long as a quarter or semester for an electronic course).
  • Final written examination at a set date for each course session.
  • One-to-one interaction between students and teachers (e.g., individual feedback on uploaded assignments).
  • Interactive communications between students (including group projects).
  • In the short run, offer both electronic and traditional classroom versions of the courses:
  • Initially market the electronic courses to personnel who have both the necessary hardware and software, as well as the skills necessary to correctly use the equipment.
  • A formal curriculum.
  • Conduct comprehensive job analysis to determine those job-related tasks performed by federal buyers that are significantly different from tasks performed by those purchasing for the commercial sector
  • If proven feasible, write exam module questions and pilot
  • Rollout federal acquisition workforce professional certification program

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Procedures

This project will leverage the complementary competencies of the three participating organizations -- FAI, NAPM and ASU. The existing FAI infrastructure prototype will serve as a foundation for the project. NAPM and ASU will work closely together to develop instructional content. Within ASU, there will be two participating organizations. The Instructional Support group of IT will develop technology infrastructure to enable the 21st century distributed learning environment. The College of Business (COB), in collaboration with NAPM, will develop course content utilizing the ASU, NAPM, and FAI infrastructures.

To achieve the goal of course content development, the COB will select six Business courses and will provide the support presented in the attached budget. For each selected course, the corresponding professor will be given a summer grant and a graduate assistant. Additional staff support will be provided by the existing COB Instructional Technology group.

It is expected that this effort will lead to completion of a significant portion of each course. Additional work will be carried out during the fall semester by a combination of reduced teaching schedules for some faculty, the availability of graduate assistants and the support of our staff specialists. The goal will be to complete the development of some of these courses by December 31, 1998 so that the courses would be ready for possible delivery in the spring of 1999.

One of these courses will be identified to include leading/bleeding-edge technologies so that this infrastructure can be piloted and improved upon prior to incorporating into all online courses. Throughout each of the project years, at least one content-viable course will also include many of the technologies being researched by the R&D; group at ASU.

NAPM will work closely with FAI to repurpose existing educational content into online courses. Up to six initial courses have been identified by FAI. Together with subject matter experts from the federal acquisition community, and practitioners and academics from the "commercial" buying community, NAPM will convert the courses for online delivery. As ASU¹s Information Technology group researches, develops, tests, and approves various delivery and presentation mechanisms, more leading edge technologies will be incorporated in the learning environment.

To ensure all participants understand team dynamics and player roles, an initial project team kick-off meeting will be held at the beginning of May 1998. Other travel will be involved, but a lot of the collaboration will be conducted via distance.

This above plan is considered as the first stage in a multi-year effort. Information technologies offer exciting opportunities for enhanced quality and efficiency but they also demand unknown creative new approaches to teaching and learning that can only be discovered through continuous improvement.

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Key R&D; Events

ASU IT will conduct research in Technology Delivered Education (TDE), for both synchronous and asynchronous delivery of instruction.

  • Evaluate existing tools and models including emerging standards such as IMS (Instructional Management System) and the Metadata model, along with tools such as real-time audio/video interactivity. Focus will be placed on features such as:
    • economies and ease of use
    • scalability and deployability
    • learning needs of students
    • adaptability to different subject area
    • ease of customization
  • Prototype a TDE delivery model and have it reviewed by potential users;
  • Develop assessment and tracking systems;
  • Develop support systems (both hardware and software) to enable deployment of the TDE delivery system;
  • Field-test the TDE delivery system in academic classes and online applications training;
  • Put in place a flexible and expandable delivery environment to meet the current and future needs of FAI and ASU in TDE.

This is an ongoing effort of ASU and will not be just a nine-month project. Items such as field-testing the model take considerable time. Development of course materials and testing with actual students can take years. New advances in technology will need to be constantly evaluated and integrated, if appropriate, into the TDE model. The equipment that is purchased to support this research portion of the project must be flexible to adapt to changing technologies and also be expandable to meet future needs. The research equipment will not meet the needs of a large scale production rollout of the TDE environment, but will be sufficient for the evaluation, development and test portion of the project.

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Key Project Events

  • By 1999, a complete, tested infrastructure freely available to private and public sector educational institutions. Research additional certification.
  • By 2000, Internet-based, degree granting curricula in private and public sector acquisition disciplines supported by FAI (for public sector buyers), NAPM (for private sector buyers), ASU, and other select colleges and universities. Pilot certification exam.
  • By 2001, 10,000 training instances (i.e., one person attending one course) per year via the Internet.
  • By 2001, Internet Mentors installed on the computer desktops of 10,000 buyers in private and public sector entities, along with mentors on the desktops of 25,000 public and private sector Contracting Officer Representative (COR)s, providing Electronic Performance Support tools (including self-instructional, just-in-time training modules and other types of job aids) for 83 contracting/purchasing duties and 18 COR duties.
  • An ROI of at least $100 in savings for every dollar invested in the training, education, and mentoring programs.

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Proposal in PDF Format

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