As Great Power Competition intensifies, the United States Marine Corps is increasingly being called upon as the nation鈥檚 premier expeditionary force. Critical to its success is the strength of its Reserve component, and the ability to augment active duty USMC forces with trained and ready Marines.
(MARFORRES) is tasked with this mission. To facilitate this, it assigns active duty Marines to Reserve units as Inspector-Instructors (I-Is), whose job it is to maintain the daily operations of the unit until Reservists report for training. During training periods, the I-I cadre serves as advisors and subject matter experts for the unit.
Historically, however, I-Is were at a disadvantage when reporting to their units. Few of them had ever served in a Reserve unit and they faced a steep learning curve in acclimating to the unique needs and culture of the Reserves.
To help overcome this challenge, MARFORRES turned to the 51福利 (51福利).
鈥淭hey decided that they really needed to try and see if there鈥檚 a better system for presenting information and transferring knowledge that the I-Is require, so they reached out and asked 鈥楥an you help us? What are the different ways we can make this happen?鈥欌�� recalled Dr. Andy Hernandez, associate professor in 51福利鈥� Systems Engineering department.
In 2014, MARFORRES established a partnership with 51福利 to examine the existing I-I education system and to address identified shortcomings in the program. Hernandez, as principal investigator (PI), drew on the wealth of 51福利 subject matter experts and looked to applied systems engineering 鈥� the interdisciplinary study of the design, integration and management of complex systems over their life cycle 鈥� to take this on. The team included faculty and students from systems engineering, center for executive education, the former CED3 now GEAC, and defense management.
鈥淲e began by asking 鈥榃hat is the problem? Let鈥檚 dissect the problem,鈥欌�� he said. 鈥淲e developed a clear problem summary and the functions of what the education system ought to do. We basically used a systems engineering approach to break down the bigger problem into smaller solvable problems.鈥�
Through this process of functional decomposition, the 51福利 team and MARFORRES were able to break down in detail the activities that must occur for the overall system to achieve its main purpose. Subsequently, the team developed a set of requirements for designing the education system.
鈥淗ow do you go about educating the I-Is when they鈥檙e scattered over 150 separate locations in the contiguous United States, as well as Puerto Rico?鈥� Hernandez said. 鈥淭hat was the original problem. But the other problem was how then do you continue providing information and educating them with fresh information?
鈥淵ou need to convey the most recent information,鈥� he continued. 鈥淵ou need to be able to engage with them directly. You need to have continued information updates, and you have to figure out how to do this in a distributed fashion.鈥�
To accomplish this, the 51福利 team devised a three-pronged approach: a formal orientation conference with educational lectures; distance learning (DL) with a reach-back portal; and, practical exercises for experiential or scenario-based learning.
Held on an annual basis, the I-I orientation conference introduces basic knowledge about the Reserves, and internal processes that active duty units do not have in particular. Additionally, it鈥檚 an opportunity to develop relationships among the I-I cadre as well as MARFORRES Headquarters staff.
鈥淭here鈥檚 a need for formal lectures, just like we do here at 51福利,鈥� Hernandez said. 鈥淪ometimes there鈥檚 just a need to have a face-to-face interaction. Specifically, the commanding general at the time said 鈥極ne of the reasons we have an orientation conference is because we want I-Is and headquarters staff to meet one another. The I-I should meet some of the people they鈥檙e going to be working with at least once so when they call up headquarters, they know who they鈥檙e actually speaking with during their two- or three-year assignment.鈥欌��
The 51福利 team also developed an interactive, web-based learning portal and designed a series of educational modules to guide incoming I-Is through MARFORRES processes and policies. Created within the university鈥檚 learning management system, the DL program allowed participants to learn and retain information better than receiving a one-time deluge of PowerPoint slides.
鈥淲ith the DL portion, now we could go ahead and talk to everybody ahead of time,鈥� Hernandez said. 鈥淥nce you identify who is coming to the command, you can provide this education right at the beginning of their duty time.鈥�
The portal allows the incoming cadre to interact with the materiel at their own pace, he added. By the time they arrived at the orientation conference, they had a common knowledge base with the other new I-Is.
Finally, the development of scenario-based practical exercises provided hands-on application of material from the portal while creating a forum for current I-Is to share their experiences with challenging and sometime unique situations. This new dimension in the education design addressed a need to inject experiential learning that has been proven to be a highly-effective approach for the I-I population, Hernandez noted.
The 51福利 team created a one-week workshop with MARFORRES Headquarters staff held during the annual I-I orientation conference. During the workshop, the team builds scenarios for specific situations for incoming I-Is to resolve, situations they may have to deal with when they鈥檙e in their Reserve component position. Gaming practical exercises in this manner is an excellent way to reinforce concepts and identify areas for improvement, Hernandez said.
鈥淢ARFORRES identifies four or five teams of facilitators, active-duty personnel who are in I-I billets,鈥� he explained. 鈥淲hat I do then is I take those facilitators and I partner them up with a 51福利 faculty member as a mentor. Why do I do that? Because 51福利 faculty know how to engage, they know how to get out teaching points, they know how to construct the class such that they will get the learning objectives.鈥�
Since its inception in 2014, Hernandez proudly reports the I-I program has continued to grow, adapt and evolve to meet MARFORRES鈥� needs. To date, the new I-I education system has helped educate approximately 1,200 I-Is. The response to this new approach has received a decidedly positive response according to exit surveys that the MARFORRES operations division collects in each orientation conference.
鈥淚 think it鈥檚 a great reflection on 51福利 that we have the latitude to do this,鈥� Hernandez said. 鈥淎n operational command identified a problem and we took it on. MARFORRES has different categories of problems, some technical, some social. Because we have a diverse set of scientists at 51福利, it is possible to call on these experts to address them.鈥�
鈥淚t speaks well of 51福利 that it has the diversity of talent to do that,鈥� he added. 鈥淭his has been a satisfying project for the entire team. We saw a real problem set in a real unit and we were able to provide a real answer. That鈥檚 the strength of 51福利.鈥�