Training is the backbone of the United States Coast Guard (USCG) Mission Ready Total Workforce Framework designed to facilitate professional growth. However, today’s USCG training experiences do not align with the current state or future world that is becoming increasingly virtual and customizable. To maintain a competitive advantage, the USCG seeks to modernize its approach to training. The USCG published an action plan, entitled Modernized Ready Learning (MRL), to initiate course correction necessary to execute the transformation. Although the service has ongoing efforts to modernize enterprise performance solutions, the service has yet to meet its full potential. To meet the organization’s intent of developing individually tailored, on-demand, and modernized learning for the continuous professional and personal growth of our workforce, the USCG must ensure its instructional system designers (ISDs), developers, and instructors have the required skills and resources.

The purpose of this paper is to identify the competencies required of ISDs, multimedia developers, and instructors to produce training and performance support products for a modernized training ecosystem. To yield measurable results and close performance gaps, implied by the MRL call to action, the USCG took a systematic approach towards defining a model for implementing the four tenants of MRL: maximize training opportunities, modernize training delivery, tailor training programs, and advance workforce resilience through training. USCG analysts developed three competency models to serve as the desired state of performance for the target audience, aimed at fostering continuous skill acquisition throughout a member's career. After identifying gaps between the current and desired state, along with the associated barriers, the analysts provided recommendations to close the gaps, bringing the organization closer to realizing the goals of the MRL strategic vison.

Keywords
ADVANCED DISTRIBUTED LEARNING;ANALYTICS;ASSESSMENT;BLENDED TRAINING;COMPETENCY BASED TRAINING;DESIGN;EDUCATION;ENHANCING PERFORMANCE;EVALUATION;FRAMEWORK;HUMAN PERFORMANCE;LEARNING STANDARDS;MULTI-MEDIA;PERSONALIZED TRAINING;TRAINING

Additional Keywords
Upskilling