DANTES Delivers Education Mobile Testing Prototype to Deployed Service Members

KENYA

Story by Erin Roberts

Defense Activity for Non-Traditional Education Support

CAMP SIMBA, Kenya – Deployed Airmen and Soldiers serving in Africa received some welcome visitors bearing early holiday gifts. A Defense Department (DoD) voluntary education (VolEd) team from the Defense Activity for Non-Traditional Education Support (DANTES) and Central Texas College (CTC), based in Sembach and Kindsbach, Germany, brought computers, hardware and software necessary to provide a 6-day college credit-by-exam testing opportunity.

Education counseling and computer-based CLEP and DSST exams were the basis for the mobile test pilot held Dec.12-17. Deployed service members have long-requested these education services in Forward Operating Locations (FOL), but due to technology and logistical challenges these types of exams have never been offered during assignments like this one before. “We are excited to see that technology has advanced to where this proof of concept was able to be successfully conducted,” says Jeff Allen, DANTES Director. “Innovative testing solutions like this pilot are important to support the warfighter’s educational needs around the world when operational commanders are requesting this type of support.”

A team of two education specialists provided service members with an opportunity to gain college credit using prior knowledge, experience, and training. Service members participated in education counseling and computer-based testing 22 hours a day during the event. A total of 38 Airmen and Soldiers took 78 exams funded by DANTES.

The DANTES/CTC team overcame many challenges and achieved many successes throughout the visit. According to Mark Phelan, DANTES European Education Advisor, “One of the biggest challenges was meeting the demand for testing around the operational schedule of the Airmen and Soldiers at the FOL. We had to test around the clock to accommodate the shift work. Putting a full time education counselor here isn’t possible, but now we know that sending a team in for a few days is definitely doable and desired.” Although Internet access was slow and there were electrical power issues, the testing infrastructure that the team brought worked as planned, and the proof of concept demonstrated that more testing events like this are foreseeable at FOLs in the future.

Phelan says that thanks to the Air Force and base leadership who supported this mobile testing event, service members around the world could see more opportunities like this in other austere locations in the coming year. These services help U.S. military members continue to work toward their educational goals while deployed to remote, logistically-challenged locations.

Learn more about DANTES VolEd programs and resources by visiting these websites: www.dantes.doded.mil and www.myvoled.com