Wanted to share some perspectives with you on the quality of our DAU web-based life cycle logistics distance learning courses and continuous learning modules. First off, we take student feedback very seriously, and consider your comments and recommendations as we make updates or revisions to our courseware. Recent examples include major revisions of LOG 101, 200, and 204, updates to our LOG 102 and 235 courses, and current revisions in-process to LOG 103 and 206. Sources of information include, but are by no-means limited to the ubiquitous Metrics-that-Matter (MTM) survey students must complete prior to course graduation. Other sources include feedback from individual DAU faculty members who teach the courses, student issues, concerns, and recommendations provided to our DAU IT help desk and faculty, as well as direct oversight of the course by a team of subject matter experts here at DAU that includes a Performance Learning Director (PLD), a Course Manager, and in each of our major regional campuses,  a Course Manager’s Regional Representative. Concerns generally fall into two primary areas: 1) content issues such as content wording, exam questions, broken web-links, or changes to policies/processes since the course was fielded, and 2) technical issues such as print functionality, time to advance to next screen, functionality of flash animations, knowledge review functionality and the like.

For content related issues or questions, you are encouraged to contact your assigned DAU faculty member (instructor). For latter (technical)  issues, our friendly Help Desk personnel are standing by ready to assist. Their hours have been extended and they are available from 6:00 AM-12:00 AM Eastern Time, Monday-Friday. They can be reached either by e-mail at [email protected] or by telephone at (703) 805-3459, Option 1, or DSN 655-3459 (also Option 1). Very often many technical issues are actually a result of student computer settings or software, or your organization’s server or firewall, not the ATLAS on-line delivery system. However, we encourage you to contact the DAU Help Desk if you are experiencing these or other technical issues. Even if the problems are not on the DAU end, our help desk professionals can very often provide assistance or advice to help you overcome the issue.

One area our DAU faculty, course managers, and Performance Learning Directors pay particular attention to is the quality of the end of module assessment (exam) questions. We monitor student pass rates, and if we see a question that is frequently missed, will examine the wording of the question to ensure it is current, directly related to the course content, and is an acceptable measure of the course learning objectives. We also appreciate student feedback either by MTM comments, e-mail or phone calls if you have issues with course content. We strive to make our courses the very best possible, and you are an integral part of helping ensure that remains the case.  And again, it is worth reiterating that DAU provides a mix of web-based and classroom-based courseware to enhance your learning.

Between FY01-09, the number of students graduating from web-based distance learning life cycle logistics courses surged from 3,028 to 20,564 a year, an almost five-fold increase! Throughout the process, DAU's commitment to face-to-face classroom instruction,however, has remained steadfast: graduations from our classroom logistics courses actually doubled from 1,694 to 4,675 a year over the same period. Throughput (and by inference, our capacity), while an important measure, is by no means the only metric we regularly look at. Student satisfaction scores in areas such as instructor, classroom environment, courseware, on-line delivery, learning effectiveness, and job/career impact are constantly monitored, and they tell a tremendous story as well. In every one of these areas, DAU life cycle logistics courses exceed, often by a wide margin, required targets, and in virtually every area for the last three years running, have exceeded the “all DAU” average.

Bottom line: our logistics faculty and staff are stanch advocates of providing our students with the best possible learning outcomes and learning assets, and are committed to ensuring our learning assets are current, relevant, value-added, of the highest quality, and focused on help you succeed in accomplishing your organization’s mission. So keep the feedback coming!