Developing Information Technology Classes for the US Marine Corps University (MCU)
Meet The Client: MCU
The United States Marine Corps University oversees the professional education of the U.S. Marine Corps personnel and additional students. MCU’s academic offerings include civilian, military and academic training, spread across six campuses and nine programs.
The Client’s Goals And Challenges
MCU’s main goal was to train a team of IT professionals, efficiently and cost-effectively, to pass the CompTIA Security+ (SYO-601) exam and achieve certified status as required by the DoD 8140 directive for information assurance job roles.
The client’s challenges were:
- Finding an in-person IT training experience that did not require employees to meet in a classroom during Covid-19
- Implementing high-quality classroom-based instruction that was geared toward certification test prep
Our Solution
To address our client’s needs, we delivered:
- 150+ live online Information Technology (IT) classes
- On-demand class reply
- IT labs
- MA mentor service
- IT Certification exam prep tests
- Test vouchers covering cyber security, infrastructure, cloud services, operating systems and project management
The classes are tied directly to the IT certification requirements under the DoD directive 8140 (8570). The directive requires IT certification for personnel accessing DoD networks, unifies the overall cyberspace workforce and establishes specific workforce elements, including:
- Cyberspace IT Workforce
- Cybersecurity Workforce
- Cyberspace Effects Workforce
- Intelligence Workforce (Cyberspace)
- Cyberspace Enablers
The Online Security+ instructor-led class — the key element of the program — was conveniently presented as eight three-hour training sessions, spread over a period of two weeks.
This approach was rendered to be less stressful and demanding, compared to the traditional Bootcamp-style training experience where students were subjected to 8–10-hour sessions of training presented over 5-6 days, back-to-back.
Students were able to attend the scheduled class from the comfort of their personal workspace and still had access to a live instructor and the ability to ask questions and collaborate with classmates.
The Results
- 10 employees successfully completed 250 hours of live instructor-led training and achieved certified status within 90 days of completing the class
- We achieved a 40% cost saving versus traditional in-person training center-based instruction, where training cost for Security+ classes often exceed $1,300 per person
- We fulfilled employee information assurance job role certification requirements for DoD 8140 AIT Level II and AIM Level I
