Wrapping up 2021 and pressing forward into 2022, JKO reflects a strong year of online training delivery and looks to continue expansion of support to the Joint Force in the coming year.
Punctuated once again by continuing COVID constraints, increased reliance on virtual training delivery and hybrid approaches, JKO distributed learning tools and content were leveraged to ensure joint training to the Force. JKO is used, in whole or in part by CCMDs, CSAs, Services, and other DoD organizations to:
- Administer organizational distance learning programs and enable blended learning training support;
- Develop, deliver, track, report and support required annual training, CCMD theater-entry training and distributed individual, collective, and staff training events and exercises;
- Provide self-paced joint leader development, learning and military education.
JKO year-end results reflect the continued momentum of virtual training and education adoption as travel and in-resident constraints persisted.
Tim Brandon, JKO’s Deputy Chief, notes, “Our successful efforts to bring our value proposition to a wider audience have contributed to two years of record course development and enrollment at JKO. The pandemic may have forced training to move online. However, agencies are now finding more value in online training and education, and the data that comes from it.”
We see this continued use and hear it from trainers and instructors that organizations are now integrating online courses and virtual classroom instruction in their training campaign planning. Our objective for the coming year and the out-years is to support this momentum while continuing to lean forward to enhance learning and readiness with digital learning.
Our strategic focus for JKO is on:
- Keeping pace with the latest innovations in online training and education to pursue the very best online learning experience for students, and most importantly, deliver training and education in the way today’s recruits expect to engage online.
- Ensuring JKO is the gold standard for cyber-secure online training and education. With training delivery on military unclassified, classified and FVEY networks, JKO faces an ever-increasing demand to keep up with continually emerging cyber-security compliance. We are seeking to increase our resource support in this area, particularly as we position to offer a JKO instantiation on the JWICS network.
- Evolving the JKO Virtual Classroom (VCLASS) to meet increasing demand, and expansion of functionality to meet its diverse adoption uses. We learned a great deal about VCLASS as organizations turned to this tool to mitigate schoolhouse training constraints. We will continue to evolve the tool in step with operational feedback.
- Expanding the JKO public website as a communications tool, especially as an additional channel in support of JKO users. Our public web page, launched on the jcs.mil website in November 2021 has exceeded expectations in unique users and page visits. We look forward to learning more of what visitors to the site are looking for and how we can evolve to meet their expectations and needs.