By Murray Davies

There is no doubt that training courses are an important part of career and trade development. But they can place extra burdens on the member, family and the workplace because of the time involved.

Often travel time makes attendance on shorter courses difficult and sometimes availability of courses is also a problem.

But there is now a way to reduce the length of courses and expand their availability.

DOMAIN, the Defence Online Management and Instructional Network, launched on March 22, is one of the largest corporate e-learning system implementations undertaken in Australia and reflects Defence’s goal of providing state-of-the-art technology-supported training and educational opportunities.

The first phase of DOMAIN went live on November 3, 2003, to about 9000 military and civilian members across Army and DMO.

DOMAIN is now servicing about 91,000 personnel with a comprehensive flexible e-learning solution. DOMAIN does not seek to replace the need for courses completely.

Some subjects will always need to be taught face-to-face or in practical hands-on exercises.

What DOMAIN does is to provide Defence with an e-learning capability as part of a broader learning strategy.

Within this strategy, e-learning offers alternative methods of learning through the use of online demonstrations, case studies and presentations using audio, multimedia and video.

It is very effective as an enhanced learning experience and for catering to the specific needs of individual learners. The real strength of DOMAIN’s e-learning capability is its Learning Management System (LMS) and Learning Content Management System (LCMS).

The LMS is the background of the process and provides an information system that administers both instructor-led and e-learning courses and maintains student records.

Instructors and training schools and centres can use the LCMS as a means of enhancing courses and presentations. Instructors can create, store, reuse, manage and deliver learning content for courses using this part of the system.

Potential e-students across Defence can use DOMAIN now for a range of courses. These include desktop applications, such as the Microsoft Office suite of products, information courses on PMKeyS, basic navigation and legislated courses such as OH&S.

Students can enrol for and complete these courses at their own pace. There are also courses that form part of more traditional career specific courses.

These are designed to reduce the time away from the workplace and family by placing theory or background subjects into an integrated e-learning package.

This is more that just “pre-course reading” and is part of the overall course structure and plan. DOMAIN is an evolving system and more and more courses and training offerings are being included and planned.

• DOMAIN can be accessed through the DEFWEB at http://defweb.cbr.defence.gov.au/det/domain/

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