Defence

Defence Personnel Executive

e-learning a winner in international arena

By Kathryn Fitch

Brett MacDonald, Director of Defence Flexible Learning Solutions (DFLS), recently found himself halfway around the world in Washington, accepting a prestigious award on Defence's behalf presented in recognition of the innovative eLearning 'CAMPUS' system.

The National Building Museum in Washington, a monument to the heroes of the American Civil War, served as an elegant backdrop for the recent Eighteenth Computerworld 21^st Century Achievement Awards, which were attended by more than 250 guests.

"I was overwhelmed by the grandeur of the occasion. Being recognised internationally was very humbling - especially when you talk with other finalists about their projects," Mr MacDonald says.

The annual awards recognise demonstrated vision and leadership through information technology innovation and the program is huge - receiving 250 nominations from some 54 countries. A panel of specialist judges reviewed a case study submitted by each nominee, with 48 finalists selected to compete across ten categories.

Defence's online eLearning system, CAMPUS, was selected as a finalist in the Education and Academia category, and Mr MacDonald says the initial work in implementing the system made the nomination process easier.

"Deloitte - who was the prime contractor for the eLearning System implementation - nominated us for the award and we were then approached to submit a case study. That was the easy part because we had a remarkable system to write about thanks to some extremely long hours from a very dedicated team of people, like Dane Buchardt who project managed the implementation of the system," he says.

CAMPUS beat the four other education institutions nominated to take out the category, with Mr MacDonald accepting the award on behalf of Defence at the glittering black-tie function.

"The award is not for the technology itself, but rather the impact the system has had on the organisation. Even though implementing CAMPUS was a team effort, as always there are a few people who should be recognised for their part. In particular, Ken Jorgenson identified the need for a consolidated approach to eLearning in Defence and developed the original strategy. We are grateful to Vice Admiral Russ Shalders and Air Commodore Ken Birrer who championed it," he says.

While most Defence staff are probably already aware of the Defence Online CAMPUS, they have probably given little thought to the difficulty in creating a system to deliver relevant training to the 90,000 military, civilian personnel and Defence Contractors across 14 seemingly disparate Groups in Defence.

"It's huge - the largest 'whole of organisation' implementation of a flexible learning capability in Australia. It's special because it encompasses an integrated learning management system, learning content management system and a content authoring tool," he says.

"The team worked hard to implement the whole system in only six months, overcoming challenges presented by Defence's restrictive IT [information technology] and decentralised training environments. It's great to have that effort recognised."

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