Case Study

Training Acquisition Professionals

Developing hundreds of assets for the Defense Acquisition University (DAU), educating over 165,000 Defense Acquisition Workforce (DAW) professionals annually with learning experiences that deliver positive feedback.

Introduction

The Defense Acquisition University (DAU) is a critical component of Department of Defense, dedicated to providing training and development to ensure the success of the DAW. DAU’s mission is to provide a global learning environment to support a mission-ready workforce that develops, delivers and sustains effective and affordable warfighting capabilities. With over 600 faculty staff across five regional campuses, DAU helps approximately 165,000 military, Federal civilian, and Federal contractor workforce members develop and manage acquisition programs, projects, and systems that continue to make our nation’s warfighters the best-equipped armed forces in the world.

Challenge

DAU faced significant challenges in modernizing its extensive training offerings to keep pace with the demands of educating military and Federal civilian staff and Federal contractors. DAU relied heavily on external contractors for developing learning assets—from analysis to pre- deployment—which often resulted in longer turnaround times and less cohesive training programs. In order to expedite the development of new learning assets, DAU sought support in bringing asset creation in-house to ensure faster deployment and more cohesive assets with embedded resources, resulting in more maintainable assets over time.

Solution

CTEC was awarded the contract to provide instructional design and media support services for DAU’s staff and their 100+ classroom and/or online-based certifications, 1,200 annual course offerings, and 200+ self-paced online trainings. CTEC provided both asset-based—analysis to pre-deployment—turnkey support, as well as embedded instructional design and media support for DAU staff for DAU’s internally- created assets. Our combined team supported DAU in converting and creating a wide range of educational content, including online courses, graphics, animatic videos, live-action video, online job support, and reusable micro-learning assets. CTEC also introduced a user-centered design approach to deliver a more immersive and effective learning environment. Our product support breakdown at DAU consists of 24% classroom learning, 70% online learning, and 6% games, simulations and job support tools, with 60% of learning assets produced as videos with various levels of interactivity.

Results

CTEC helped DAU triple the number of training assets developed and deployed over a three-year period, with more than 135 courses released in a single year. This exponential increase in the quantity and quality of instruction materials led to higher student satisfaction, improved feedback scores and better learning retention among DAW members. While CTEC continued to deliver stand-alone assets, demand also increased for more embedded instructional design support. DAU requested additional embedded headcount for CTEC to provide experts in learning science, experiential learning, and user-centered design to develop new learning assets, increase student engagement and accelerate speed to market.

Results

200+
course-based assets

1000s
micro-learning assets

300%
more assets in 3 years

165K
DAW members

Solution

Curriculum Development
User Experience Design
Simulation-Based Training
Human-Centered Design
Hybrid Virtual/In-Person

Testimonials

“The significant increase in online training we’ve been able to deploy with CTEC’s assistance has been exponential. Their approach to course revisions greatly enhanced the quality of our learning assets.”

DAU POC

“The modernization of DAU’s training programs has significantly improved their personnel’s readiness and capability.”

CTEC Account Lead, DAU

Case Study

Training Acquisition Professionals

Introduction

Challenge

Solution

Results

Results

Solution

Testimonials

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