Across 87 formal learning centers, the United States Marine Corps Training Command is challenged with training large numbers of Marines with limited instructors and time available. Instructors need strategies and tools to support and enhance the student learning experience while optimizing their use of time and resources. Furthermore, due to a need to prepare Marines for tomorrow’s increasingly uncertain, complex, and decentralized operating environment, MajGen Mullen, Commanding General of Training and Education Command, has called for an institution-wide shift from passive, instructor-focused training towards an active, student-centered learning model. Courses need to be designed and delivered in a way that is engaging, interactive, personalized, and that increases efficiencies for instructor time. The Adaptive Blended Learning Experience (ABLE) project addresses these challenges and extends the research and development for the areas of adaptive learning and blended learning designs.
The purpose of the ABLE effort is to develop a model to deliver Military Occupational Specialty (MOS) specific training content in a self-paced, adaptive format that enhances student learning and creates efficiencies for instructor time. Two Marine Corps Intelligence School courses teaching Center of Gravity (COG) Analysis were selected as the testbeds for this project: Tactical Intelligence Officer Course (TIOC; a fully resident course) and MAGTF Intelligence Analyst Course (MIAC; includes a non-resident portion). An adaptive Moodle (an LMS) lesson was designed to enable self-paced learning and personalized remediation of COG Analysis basic concepts so subsequent instructor-led classroom time is devoted optimally for advanced practical application exercises. An experimental study design is being applied to measure learning effectiveness and time efficiency associated with the ABLE intervention of the COG Analysis module in comparison to current practice. The outcomes of this effort contribute to developing a framework for effective, adaptive, blended learning course designs throughout Training Command, generalizable to other training and educational settings.