Thursday, November 19, 2009
+1
Last week, I and 7 other classmates fullfilled our '+1' requirement. This course requirement involved engaging with the local community in order to tell the Army story. We volunteered to help build a handicap wheelchair ramp for a needy family near Petersburg. The first day we assembled the major pieces of the handicap ramp in a warehouse. The second day we went to the family's residence and constructed the ramp. Overall, it was great to help out a needy family and spend Veteran's Day doing something constructive. However, the weather just plain sucked and I was borderline hypothermic after four hours of building. I am not sure why we HAD to do it in the rain (no specific reasons were given); but after a hot shower and several beers I was back to normal.
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Lodging during the course
Before reporting, we were told that we would have full per diem for lodging and meals; yet, we were mandated to use the base lodging as our designated hotel. Now, some quick facts: The lodging per diem in the Petersburg area is ~79$, while the price of the on base lodging per night is 46.50$. So, it appears at first look like a reasonable request to use the on base lodging.
After checking in, I quickly realized this on base property is of inferior quality to most other hotels, and at 46.50$ per night, I am probably being overcharged based on the quality of the room. The only amenities are a small microwave and a fridge - no outside hotplates allowed; which effectively rules out cooking anything but a microwave meal. yuck. Anything in my bathroom that is metal is visibly rusting; the shower refuses to maintain a steady temperature and oscillates more than an ocean wave; the toilet barely flushes; etc etc. My comforter had a cigarette burned hole through it; not until I pointed it out to my housekeeper was it changed. Although the facilities are substandard, the service is fine.
Within a 5 mile radius, there are at least 20 major hotel properties. One in particular which shall go unnamed, offers a weekly rate to military at 229$/week and includes a full kitchen. 46.50$ a night = 325$/week. Over the length of the four month course, I could save the government 1500$ by staying at this particular hotel. If each of my classmates stayed at this hotel, we could save the government 90,000$. If each of the three classes per year that attend this school stayed there, the combined savings would be 270,000$. Not bad.
What do you think? For my lawyer friends, is it even legal to mandate that students who are authorized full per diem use a specific property?
After checking in, I quickly realized this on base property is of inferior quality to most other hotels, and at 46.50$ per night, I am probably being overcharged based on the quality of the room. The only amenities are a small microwave and a fridge - no outside hotplates allowed; which effectively rules out cooking anything but a microwave meal. yuck. Anything in my bathroom that is metal is visibly rusting; the shower refuses to maintain a steady temperature and oscillates more than an ocean wave; the toilet barely flushes; etc etc. My comforter had a cigarette burned hole through it; not until I pointed it out to my housekeeper was it changed. Although the facilities are substandard, the service is fine.
Within a 5 mile radius, there are at least 20 major hotel properties. One in particular which shall go unnamed, offers a weekly rate to military at 229$/week and includes a full kitchen. 46.50$ a night = 325$/week. Over the length of the four month course, I could save the government 1500$ by staying at this particular hotel. If each of my classmates stayed at this hotel, we could save the government 90,000$. If each of the three classes per year that attend this school stayed there, the combined savings would be 270,000$. Not bad.
What do you think? For my lawyer friends, is it even legal to mandate that students who are authorized full per diem use a specific property?
Graduate Level Education?
Upon inprocessing in early September, students were repeatedly told that this course of study was meant to be a "graduate level" learning experience. I have reflected on this quite a bit, and having a graduate degree from a small school in Boston, I feel like I'm qualified to make an objective comparison between the experience I had in Boston, and this "graduate level" experience. First, I will summarize what I believe the hallmarks of a graduate level experience are, then I will compare and contrast my experiences. Finally, I will set up a one question survey that my classmates can log into and give me their anonymous opinion on whether or not this qualifies as a graduate level learning experience.
1) Aptitude testing. When applying to MIT, I had to take the GRE. Once accepted, grad students there take a "qualifying" exam to guage their level of physics knowledge. Afterwards, they are given a program of remediation to account for any deficiencies; they then have one year to retake and pass the exam. Here at ILE, we were asked to do four pre-tests online prior to attending the school. These exams were mostly trivial and could be answered mostly with what I had learned as a young captain at another Army school. After reporting, we were administered a written essay test, the Prentice Hall diagnostic test, the Nelson Denny reading test, and a vocabulary test. For the most part, the comparisons are somewhat equivalent, even though I would consider the battery of testing administered here at ILE to be somewhat trivial and much less challenging than the GRE, or even the SAT for that matter. Another minor point is that when briefing the students their results, the faculty did not include the standard deviation of the population of students along with the mean.
2) Graduate level learning focuses on the higher levels of bloom's taxonomy. If you would like to see a quick reference of bloom's taxonomy, click here:
http://uwf.edu/cutla/images/bloom_taxonomy.jpg
At MIT, I was told to find a research group, conduct a research project, and write a thesis based on my research. This was my singular graduation requirement. Needless to say, conducting a research project under the guise of an expert faculty member required me to use the skills on the upper part of the taxonomy: Create, evaluate, and analyze. Sure, there was some knowledge acquisition and comprehension, but it was a small proportion of my efforts and went towards supporting the higher level tasks. Here, we rarely use the cognitive skills at the top of the pyramid. Almost each course of instruction includes some pre-reading (knowledge) and then the instructor goes through a bevy of powerpoint slides and asks a series of fill-in-the-blank questions (comprehension). Although there is some, I stress some, analysis, it is small in proportion to the skills at the bottom of the pyramid. Sometimes I feel like I am in a three hour long mad-lib session. To me, the skills knowledge and comprehension equate to training, and the higher skills equate to education. We all know what the Army as an institution is good at: training. Maybe we should change the title of the course to "Intermediate Level Training."
3) Setting a course of self-study. Once I found a research group, my advisor gave me about 60 days to come up with a suitable project. Notice, the onus was on me to set my course of study and examination. Here, we are subjected to a pre-programmed schedule of courses. The only flexibility lies within a few written requirements whereby students can choose one topic vice another. An example of the kind of flexibility that I would like to see is this: We take a 25 hour "History of Western Warfare" course. Why not offer as a choice three different types of historical analyses, maybe an asian history, a middle eastern history, and a western history? (And why are we studying the history of our allies when we should be studying the history of our enemies? I digress, that deserves its own post.) I recognize that some topics need to be covered, but integrating a system of electives or self-study would enrich the curriculum.
What do you think? Does this equate to a graduate level learning experience? Please vote using the survey link below:
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=oYDIn4mGALGh_2bmtqgUlvIA_3d_3d
1) Aptitude testing. When applying to MIT, I had to take the GRE. Once accepted, grad students there take a "qualifying" exam to guage their level of physics knowledge. Afterwards, they are given a program of remediation to account for any deficiencies; they then have one year to retake and pass the exam. Here at ILE, we were asked to do four pre-tests online prior to attending the school. These exams were mostly trivial and could be answered mostly with what I had learned as a young captain at another Army school. After reporting, we were administered a written essay test, the Prentice Hall diagnostic test, the Nelson Denny reading test, and a vocabulary test. For the most part, the comparisons are somewhat equivalent, even though I would consider the battery of testing administered here at ILE to be somewhat trivial and much less challenging than the GRE, or even the SAT for that matter. Another minor point is that when briefing the students their results, the faculty did not include the standard deviation of the population of students along with the mean.
2) Graduate level learning focuses on the higher levels of bloom's taxonomy. If you would like to see a quick reference of bloom's taxonomy, click here:
http://uwf.edu/cutla/images/bloom_taxonomy.jpg
At MIT, I was told to find a research group, conduct a research project, and write a thesis based on my research. This was my singular graduation requirement. Needless to say, conducting a research project under the guise of an expert faculty member required me to use the skills on the upper part of the taxonomy: Create, evaluate, and analyze. Sure, there was some knowledge acquisition and comprehension, but it was a small proportion of my efforts and went towards supporting the higher level tasks. Here, we rarely use the cognitive skills at the top of the pyramid. Almost each course of instruction includes some pre-reading (knowledge) and then the instructor goes through a bevy of powerpoint slides and asks a series of fill-in-the-blank questions (comprehension). Although there is some, I stress some, analysis, it is small in proportion to the skills at the bottom of the pyramid. Sometimes I feel like I am in a three hour long mad-lib session. To me, the skills knowledge and comprehension equate to training, and the higher skills equate to education. We all know what the Army as an institution is good at: training. Maybe we should change the title of the course to "Intermediate Level Training."
3) Setting a course of self-study. Once I found a research group, my advisor gave me about 60 days to come up with a suitable project. Notice, the onus was on me to set my course of study and examination. Here, we are subjected to a pre-programmed schedule of courses. The only flexibility lies within a few written requirements whereby students can choose one topic vice another. An example of the kind of flexibility that I would like to see is this: We take a 25 hour "History of Western Warfare" course. Why not offer as a choice three different types of historical analyses, maybe an asian history, a middle eastern history, and a western history? (And why are we studying the history of our allies when we should be studying the history of our enemies? I digress, that deserves its own post.) I recognize that some topics need to be covered, but integrating a system of electives or self-study would enrich the curriculum.
What do you think? Does this equate to a graduate level learning experience? Please vote using the survey link below:
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=oYDIn4mGALGh_2bmtqgUlvIA_3d_3d
Task and Purpose
A little background first: I am attending the Army's Intermediate Level Education Phase I satellite course at Ft. Lee, Va. This course is administered by the Army's Command and General Staff College, U.S. Army Combined Arms Center, Fort Leavenworth Kansas. I have been tasked with 'blogging' in order to fulfill a course requirement for graduation. I will post my thoughts, impressions, likes, dislikes, agreements, disagreements, etc. over the next month. Some of these may interest you; some may not. But the bottom line is that the views expressed in my blog are my own personal views and do not reflect the official policy or position of the Department of the Army, Department of Defense, or the U.S. Government.
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