The lifelong learning concept has been advanced as an Army-wide solution to the problem of meeting the educational demands of a rapidly changing operational environment. Lifelong Learning Centers (LLCs) comprise a suite of technologies that enable, among other things, online posting of schoolhouse curriculum materials, courseware downloads, and distributed collaboration among users. Previous research (Cianciolo, 2007) has produced a comprehensive framework for conceptualizing how resources invested in LLCs can produce change to instruction, learning, and organizational effectiveness. It was demonstrated that the framework was a feasible and useful tool for conducting a program evaluation of LLCs as applied to leader education, but the limited scope of the study prevented an explicit test of the generalizability of the assessment framework. The present study examined the generalizability of the assessment framework to military operational specialty (MOS) qualification training. The assessment framework generalized across the two different types of LLCs, but modification was necessary in order to reflect additional determinants of organizational impact. These additional determinants were factors external to the sphere of influence of the LLC, chiefly personnel management and institutional training procedures, which can moderate the relation between outputs and outcomes. Some modification also was made to metrics and measures in order to include more generalizable and usable methods for capturing LLC outcomes. Lifelong learning assessment lessons learned were documented and integrated into a general plan for future LLC assessments.
Further Investigations of Army Lifelong Learning: An Enhanced Assessment Framework
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