In any classroom environment, the dynamic usually consists of an instructor giving information and students remembering it. The instructor uses examinations or other feedback mechanisms to grade the students on how well they learn the subject. But what happens to the students when the teacher is not very good at teaching? The likely outcome is a high rate of failure.
The Army wants to mitigate that outcome by ensuring its instructors are qualified and doing things the right way, according to 1st Lt. Aaron Hett, 3rd Battalion, 353rd Infantry Regiment, Joint Readiness Training Center Operations Group, and recent graduate of an Evaluator/Instructor Course, or EIC.
“Army instructors are first sent through an instructor course,” he said. “Then, when you teach that course, someone is going to evaluate you to make sure you are following the correct principles.”
Step 1 — CFDIC
The Common Faculty Development Instructor Course, or CFDIC, is the Army course that makes instructors. It qualifies someone to get up in front of a class and teach, and bestows them with basic instructor badge. Sgt. 1st Class David Holda, also with the 353rd, said the class “is how we build instructors.”
Staff Sgt. Ryelle Snowden and Staff Sgt. Shane Searle of the Utah Army National Guard were the mobile training team sent to Fort Polk to instruct courses.
“The class is all about how to be a great facilitator,” said Searle. “The Army has developed something called ALM, or Army Learning Model, which means instructors will get the students more involved in the learning process instead of just presenting information.”
Holda explained how the ALM improves learning.
“Facilitation gets students involved in their own training by promoting critical thinking and problem-solving among themselves rather than lecturing them and giving them answers,” said Holda. “Students consider different perspectives and flesh out their own answers.”
Twenty instructors in the 353rd were certified in March.
Step 2 — EIC
The MTT had a goal of getting the instructors at 353rd Training Regiment additionally certified as evaluators. The Evaluator/Instructor Course, or EIC is the next step in the process and qualifies the instructor to be an evaluator of other instructors.
Hett said the EIC allows instructors to progress in the Army program for obtaining the next badge — the senior instructor badge. “You first become a certified instructor through CFDIC, and then go through EIC which qualifies you to evaluate other instructors to ensure they are doing the right things, like critical thinking facilitation and learner involvement,” he said. “The EIC class promotes good evaluators so we can ensure good instructors are instructing our students.”
Thirty-nine 353rd Soldiers were EIC certified in March.
Step 3 — CFDDC
The 353rd plans to offer the Common Faculty Development Developer Course, or CFDDC, this summer. This course is required to earn the master instructor badge. “Those with CFDDC qualifications are few and far between,” said Hett. “For every school house you generally have one developer. When they evaluate instructors, it is to make sure they are following the materials correctly, because they are the ones qualified to develop that material.”
Seale said when the ALM program began in 2013, it was only for a certain subset of Training and Doctrine Command classes, usually offered as part of an NCO leadership curriculum.
“Over the past six years, it has expanded to include all military instructors,” said Searle. “That includes civilians, NCOs — anybody that teaches a group of Soldiers can be part of the program.”
More than badges
Soldiers that take these courses will earn instructor badges, but Searle said the skills they learn are more important than earning a badge.
“Commands want their instructors to be part of this program because it makes them better facilitators,” said Searle. “We are moving away from the NCO-led, didactic training model to one that is more inclusive of the students.”
“I think it’s important to note that the badge helps bring credit and validation to the course itself. It helps promote instructors to become better instructors as well help each other,” said Holda.
These classes were the first iterations of CFDIC and EIC to take place at Fort Polk.
“We now have senior NCOs that can instruct and facilitate discussions on practical application of what the Soldiers will be doing downrange, whether that’s using an interpreter or talking to someone from a different culture,” said Hett.
“Additionally, as a result of this coursework, we also have graders that can observe and critique the instructors to ensure they are correctly facilitating the students, and to help improve teaching skills.”
End state
The students that took part in both classes were combinations of observer/controller/teachers that work with rotational units, especially those from partner nations in the box and 353rd Soldiers that use their instructor skills in advise and assist roles down range.
The end state is that 353rd has certified instructors and a group of evaluators for those instructors.
“We are a one-of-a kind, stand alone unit that reports directly to FORSCOM, and we want to make sure we are meeting the intent with what we do within the organizations that we teach,” said Hett.
“One of the strategic focuses for the Department of Defense is readiness and readiness starts with training,” said Snowden. “So if we get good instructors that are continually improving themselves, the whole readiness of the Army improves.”