New ALS curriculum creates new challenges

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Joshua Stevens
  • 28th Bomb Wing Public Affairs
ELLSWORTH AIR FORCE BASE, S.D. --  Airman attending Airman Leadership School here and at all Air Force bases come into the new year with many changes to its core curriculum that may create a more challenging course for those who experience it.

ALS institutions Air Force-wide are required to have this "historic, total rewrite" of the training system in place and ready for instruction as of Jan. 1, said Senior Master Sgt. Joey Parks, 28th Mission Support Squadron ALS flight chief.

Airman Leadership School is a 192-hour, 24-academic-day class whose mission is to prepare senior airmen for supervisory duties and foster a commitment to the profession of arms.

"The changes were made so that the curriculum would be in line with a combat expeditionary mindset," said Tech. Sgt. James Delo Jr., 28th MSS ALS flight instructor.

"The College for Enlisted Professional Military Education completed a two-year deliberate process, blending inputs from Air Force leaders to hone the effectiveness, precision and clarity of the ALS curriculum," Sergeant Parks said.

In the previous curriculum, the four modules taught were: leadership management, profession of arms, human relations and communication skills.

Under the revised system there are still four training modules, but they have transitioned to: supervisor of airmen, military professional, combat leader and supervisory communicator.

"The new curriculum is designed to strengthen an Airman's leadership and management skills and their understanding of ethical conduct as warrior leaders and role models," Sergeants Parks said.

In regard to the supervisory communicator course, he said, "communication studies lessons will challenge a student's written and oral communication skills at a higher level."

He also described the changes to the rest of the course.

"New lessons focus on the synergy of operating with multinational and joint forces, as well as understanding total force integration," Sergeant Parks said. "Enlisted heritage and history, plus regional awareness and cultural sensitivity have also been added."

About 35 percent of the material is completely new, and the rest was significantly revised, Sergeant Delo said.

"Of all the information, the combat leader course is the newest," said Tech. Sgt. Day McDougall, 28th MSS ALS flight instructor. "It used to be referred to as profession of arms, but has had a huge overhaul."

The changes were in the works for the past two years, Sergeant Delo said.

"ALS flight chiefs and instructors across 70 schools contributed toward the lessons, using their community of practice [CoPs are Web-based applications that military bases use to provide information to Airmen]," Sergeant Parks said.

"Ellsworth was chosen as a test base about seven months ago for professional conduct lessons by the College for Enlisted Professional Military Education," Sergeant Delo said. "We also critiqued many of the proposed changes that came along."

The renovation of the course is proving to not only be a challenge for students, but the instructors as well.

"You have to essentially relearn your job," Sergeant Delo said, having taught ALS for the past five years.

"I don't think that it was as bad for me, because I've only recently become an instructor," Sergeant McDougall said.

The instructors were given a small window in which to thoroughly learn the new material.

The last class to graduate with the old material did so Dec. 21, Sergeant Delo said. With the next class set to utilize the new coursework Jan. 10, they didn't have much time to finish their certifications, and took time out of their personal schedules and holidays to accomplish it.

Instructors are required to become proficient in all areas of study.

"We had to test on all the material at 90 percent or better to become subject matter experts," Sergeant McDougall said. Another aspect that makes becoming proficient difficult, is making sure we coordinate with each other to ensure our lesson plans are in line; all instructors must teach and administer tests to Airmen in the same manner.

Student testing is one of the areas most significantly affected by the changes.

"As of this class [starting Jan.10], the entire course is testable," Sergeant Delo said. "In previous classes only specific segments of the course were testable."

"You can no longer pass this course by being active in the classroom alone," Sergeant McDougall said. "From now on, much more home study will be needed."

Previous students have similar feelings about the new coursework.

"With the curriculum increasing, it will be more demanding on a student's time management," said Senior Airman Jacob Pennell, 28th Munitions armament back-shop technician and recent ALS graduate. "They're only given so much time to go home every night, and now more of their time will be filled with homework than it was before."

Another significant change in the course comes to the material regarding enlisted evaluations.

The classes before the beginning of 2008 learned aspects of the old enlisted performance report system, Sergeant Delo said. Now we will be able to completely teach all the aspects of the new EPR.

"Before, the evaluation systems section of instruction was about eight hours in length, but it will now be 14 hours," Sergeant McDougall said.

The Ellsworth Airman Leadership School has invested a significant amount of resources to prepare for the shift.

"The reproduction costs were substantial," he said. The student guides alone cost $600, and other costs topped $2,800.

All agreed that the changes are a welcomed addition and necessary for today's Air Force.

"It will be much more pertinent and up-to-date than the information in the previous course," Airman Pennell said. "Future noncommissioned officers will be able to lead the Airmen just coming into the Air Force ranks much better."

"It's more applicable," Sergeant McDougall said. "Airmen should be able to use all of this information in a real-world capacity - both on the battlefield and at their home station."