How a DoD language program is maintaining readiness remotely Posted by meaghan on Sep 3, 2020 in For Program Managers
With limited opportunities for annual training and face-to-face mentoring during the pandemic, many DoD language programs are leveraging the CL-150 Platform to ensure their cryptologic linguists can sustain proficiency from anywhere.
We talked to the CLPM and mentors from one language program to see how they’re approaching sustainment remotely. To start, the unit’s CLPM is setting goals in the CL-150 that align directly to the goals each linguist identifies in his or her Individual Language Training Program. The CLPM explained why he finds this approach motivating for his linguists:
“It makes their ILTP more than just a piece of paper—it places the goal front and center every time they log in.”
Linguists see their required weekly or monthly goal at the top of their learning dashboard. They can also set a personal goal for daily learning time to keep them coming back, day after day.
To meet their weekly or monthly goal, the unit’s linguists are encouraged to complete the weekly Cohort lessons published at their level, which can be accessed anytime from virtually any device. The lessons are based on authentic materials of interest to USG linguists covering many aspects of proficiency, performance, content, and ancillary Final Learning Objectives (FLOs).
Cohort lessons can take up to 2 hours to complete, but the unit’s CLPM also allows linguists to self-report learning time completed outside the CL-150 Platform—which is then counted towards their goals and is captured within reports.
Not all learning time happens in the CL-150, but the unit’s program managers are maintaining visibility by requiring linguists to self-report that time, so it is captured in reports.
To improve visibility while remote, the CLPM and mentors are organizing linguists into reporting groups, where they can monitor learning data in real time and run more detailed reports. This makes it easy for managers and mentors to identify and check in with linguists not meeting their goals.
Even before the pandemic, one of the unit’s mentors was able to keep tabs on his sustainers while away teaching a Significant Language Training Event (SLTE):
“I didn’t have the energy or time to check up on every single person every week, but I checked my recurring report emailed to me every Friday and could see right away who was doing the work and who wasn’t.”
CLPMs receive automated reports so they know who is (or isn’t) doing the work, and they can prioritize accordingly.
Quarantine or not, these proactive measures are ensuring the unit’s linguists can maintain proficiency anytime, anywhere, so they’ll always have the language readiness required to provide high-level operational support to any mission when needed.
Learn how your program can provide remote language sustainment with the CL-150 Platform. Attend a new user orientation or visit the CL-150 Training Kit to explore on-demand help materials.
