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"Ignorance is our biggest vulnerability [in the cyber domain]." --Vice Adm. Carl Mauney, USN, deputy CO, STRATCOM

The U.S. Defense Department has developed a software standard that permits organizations to write and share online courses and learning material. Representing the combined efforts of government, industry and academia, the guidelines are part of a larger program that seeks to provide federal personnel with high-quality training delivered any time, anywhere.

While all of the services continue to transform the ways they operate, one of the armed forces' primary institutions for advanced education is leading the way to joint transformation. In recently renovated, technologically advanced classrooms, students delve into the challenges the military faces today to discover innovative joint approaches to tomorrow's problems.

Future virtual training environments may provide soldiers with computer-generated opponents who realistically portray anger, fear and fatigue. Researchers are adding human behavioral and cultural data to software to accurately depict crowd and adversary reactions. By introducing these layers of authenticity, scientists hope to enrich the quality of the learning experience that simulation systems offer.

The U.S. Army has actively entered the distance learning arena with two programs that allow soldiers to earn college credits or improve their military occupational skills online from their primary bases or while deployed.

A program designed by the U.S. Defense Department will provide the military and federal government with the latest online study techniques by developing software standards and promoting the use of new technologies. Known as advanced distributed learning, the initiative aims at offering the highest quality schooling that can be tailored to meet individual needs and delivered cost-effectively wherever and whenever required.

When it comes to education, industry is getting back to the basics: It is exploring the fundamentals of exactly how people learn. The objective is to perfect the virtual classroom by matching technology to the learning process rather than matching the learning process to the technology.