Columbus State to Help Fort Benning Adapt New Learning Technologies, Instructional Strategies

June 24, 2011

COLUMBUS, Ga. - Columbus State University is helping the Fort Benning Maneuver Center of Excellence implement a major U.S. Army initiative to “develop adaptive, thinking soldiers and leaders capable of meeting the challenges of operational adaptability in an era of persistent conflict.”

The collaboration begins with Learning and Technology Symposium 2011 on Wednesday and Thursday, June 29-30 at CSU’s Cunningham Center for Leadership Development, 3100 Gentian Blvd.

The symposium, the first of what its organizers plan as a yearly event, is themed “Implementing the Army Learning Concept for 2015 at the Maneuver Center of Excellence.”

The symposium will “present new learning technologies and instructional strategies for the Maneuver Center of Excellence to consider when developing the plan for implementing ALC 2015,” said John Fuller, a retired Army colonel and one of the event’s organizers as a project manager for CSU’s TSYS School of Computer Science.

On Wednesday, CSU and MCOE leaders, including CSU President Tim Mescon, Cunningham Center Executive Director Carmen Cavezza and Maj. Gen. Robert Brown, will overview the program from 1-2 p.m., followed by research presentations until 5 p.m.

Tom Hackett, CSU's interim provost and vice president for academic affairs, will deliver one of the presentations. Also, Fuller and CSU colleague George Khouri will demonstrate a Cognitive Map-Based Tactical Decision Support System prototype.

The following day, 11 CSU professors, from computer science, educational leadership and psychology, will co-facilitate workshops from 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. for 140-180 commissioned and non-commissioned Army officers, Fort Benning civilian workers, private sector military contractors and other CSU faculty and staff.

Workshop topics will include Adaptive Learning and Intelligent Tutors, Mobile Learning and Distance Learning Modules, Peer-based Learning Using Social Networks and Virtual Training Environments.

The ALC, according to the Army, is designed to provide, by 2015, “soldiers and leaders with more relevant, tailored, engaging learning experiences through a career-long continuum of learning that is not location-dependent, but accessed at the point of need.”

The symposium is a product of the efforts of Mescon and Cavezza, former Commanding General of Fort Benning, to increase the university’s involvement with Fort Benning in areas of mutual interest and benefit, Fuller said.

The symposium also is another example of Columbus State as a resource to military leaders and soldiers.

GI Jobs magazine has designated CSU a “Military Friendly School,” while the university has helped lead a University System of Georgia “Soldiers2Scholars” initiative to maximize services to veterans and active-duty personnel and their families.

For more information, including a complete agenda, go to http://cunningham.columbusstate.edu/technologysymposium/ or contact John Fuller at 706-565-3499 or fuller_john2@ColumbusState.edu.