Defence

Feature

Perfect partnership

Training opportunities in Defence will be greatly enhanced with the appointment of SkillSoft as a preferred supplier. Ara Nalbandian reports.

Minister Assisting the Minister for Defence, the Hon. Bruce Hillson, MP; Vice President of SkillSoft Asia-Pacific, Glenn Nott; and Director-General, Education, Training & Development, Commodore Russell Baker, at the announcement.
Photo provided by Sandy Spiers

Defence personnel will now have access to new online learning courses through an e-learning partnership with a world leader in Commercial-Off-The-Shelf courses, the Minister Assisting the Minister for Defence, Bruce Billson, MP, announced on 30 May.

In 2005 a tender process was conducted for Commercial-Off-The-Shelf e-learning courses in Defence. As a result SkillSoft has been appointed as a preferred supplier until mid 2008.

The appointment of SkillSoft as a preferred supplier means that Defence will be able to consolidate its Commercial-Off-The-Shelf training, broaden staff access to a larger and more comprehensive range of courses and reduce costs.

Being a keen advocate of e-learning, Mr Billson sees the flexibility it provides as the way of the future, particularly for an organisation as disparate and diverse as Defence.

'Hardware and software technology is changing at an unprecedented pace, and to keep up we need the expertise and the backup provided by organisations such as SkillSoft,' he noted.

The Minister is also a keen advocate of Commercial-Off-The-Shelf solutions, not only because they're cheaper and represent value for money, but because they give us better support for our products and ensure that we keep abreast of the latest developments.

'The new Defence partnership with SkillSoft will provide new cost-effective Commercial-Off-The-Shelf solutions to enable Defence personnel access to better learning opportunities,' Mr Billson said.

'SkillSoft also works with the United States military and has an extensive e-learning library on courses, ranging from leadership and communication to project and risk management.

'The appointment of SkillSoft as a preferred supplier of Defence e-learning training providers will further enhance Defence's e-learning environment, adding to the already impressive milestones that in-house e-learning system, CAMPUS, has achieved'.

According to the Minister, since CAMPUS went online in November 2003, there have been 244 e-learning courses introduced, with 210 000 enrolments and over 130 000 courses completed. These figures underscore the reach, and the potential, of online learning in Defence, not only for training solutions, but also for training cost reductions.

'The greatest challenge is to make online learning attractive to our people, and I can think of no better way of doing that than by providing comprehensive, up-to-date, world-class e-learning packages. This is what we have with the partnership between Defence and SkillSoft.

'Defence's online CAMPUS won last year's education and academia category in the Computerworld 21st Century achievement awards and continues to provide affordable and accessible quality training to people in Defence.

'The Australian Government is committed to the Australian Defence Force being an employer of choice that provides best quality services and learning opportunities for Defence military and civilian personnel,' Mr Billson said.

In the Minister's view, if the Australian Defence Force is to continue to defend Australia and its national interests, Defence must remain an innovative, responsive and adaptive organisation. In order to do that, Defence people must be highly trained through quality learning options provided in a variety of flexible, easily available and, most importantly, useable formats. The way to achieve such training is to make the most of the cost-effective options provided by Commercial-Off-The-Shelf information technology solutions.

In his speech Glenn Nott, the Vice President of SkillSoft Asia-Pacific, outlined his organisation's history and achievements. As a global and international company, SkillSoft has provided e-learning to about 500 organisations. In Australia these include Centrelink, the Department of Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs, the Australian Taxation Office, and the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations.

The dynamic partnership between Defence and SkillSoft will undoubtedly yield great results.

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