US Air Force’s 365th TRS trains airmen with tablets

US Air Force leadership has made a call to action for airmen to get innovative – to get creative, to take risks, to utilize all their skills and be unafraid to fail. Sheppard Air Force Base’s 365th Training Squadron F-15 avionics course accepted this challenge by training their airmen with tablets.

Instructors from the 365th TRS coordinated to do away withtraditional, antiquated paper training materials and transitioned to teach anentire course using tablets, a teaching method today’s airmen are accustomedto. The first class to use the tablets will graduate in August.

While many training squadrons have implemented the use of hand-held technology for the storage and teaching of technical data, the 365th TRS F-15 avionics course is the first to disperse all course information electronically. Upon beginning the course, each airman was given a tablet containing files with 94 training days, 12 chapters and 900 workbook pages worth of F-15 avionics information.

Chief Master Sgt. of the Air Force, Kaleth O. Wright said it is crucial for the Air Force to innovate so that it can win a new war. “Some of you in this room will take to war in 10 to 20 years,” Wright said during his address to the Air Force Association’s Air Warfare Symposium. “So, we have to think about the technology and the innovation that we need 10 to 15 to 20 years from now. We have to start thinking about it and start building it right now.”

Tech. Sgt. Cody Kirkpatrick, 365th TRS F-15 avionics courseinstructor, has played a key role in implementing technology. He is the firstinstructor to teach a course entirely using the tablet. He spoke about the manybenefits he has seen his airmen reap as a result of going virtual.

“Most of these airmen are coming to us straight out of highschool,” he said. “They’ve gone from using hand-held devices in school likeiPads, tablets or Chromebooks, then coming into the Air Force and learning frompaper. That’s just not how they receive information. By learning from thetablets, they are learning faster and retaining more.”

Kirkpatrick explained that as he lectures, a PowerPointpresentation is displayed on a smart TV at the front of the classroom and airmenalso have the slides on their tablets, closely following along and highlightingor taking notes as they go.

Airman Jonathan Radecki, 365th TRS F-15 avionics coursestudent, also attested to the usefulness of the tablets for training and forthe convenience of having the tablet while on the go.

“The best part of the tablets is the flexibility,” he said.“All the files are already on there. So as we learn, we don’t have to scrambleto write everything down, just listen and use the highlight feature or takeextra notes on the sides. It’s nice that if we have the tablet, we haveeverything we need to study. It’s definitely easier for me to learn this way.”

The airmen have their tablets with them for classroomlectures, hands-on training in the hangar and even with them in the dorms atthe end of the duty day, allowing airmen to study wherever they go, evenwithout internet connection.

“Our hope for the future is that once airmen graduate basicmilitary training and arrive at tech school, they will receive their tablet andit would follow them into the operational Air Force,” Kirkpatrick said.

Although this may sound like a very pricey investment,Master Sgt. Brion Kennedy, 365 TRS F-15 avionics flight chief, said it wouldactually save the Air Force money in the long run.

“By purchasing a tablet, roughly $200, or similar device foreach Airman, and using it for the entirety of their training, in tech schooland on the job, it would eliminate the need for classroom equipment like desks,overhead projectors and dual monitors,” he said. “Everything is right there inthe palm of their hands.”

Kirkpatrick said another possibility for the future oftablet training is a self-paced course.

“While the full 94 training days would be available tocomplete the course, airmen who pick the concepts up quickly could work aheadand graduate whenever they finished the work,” he said. “This would make timeat Sheppard shorter and help maintainers get out in the operational Air Forcefaster.”

The tablets do have internet capability, however, fortraining purposes, it is not enabled at this time. Kirkpatrick said he hopes toenable internet access in the future for interactive learning exercises such as“Kahoot,” a tool for using technology to administer quizzes, discussions orsurveys.

Source: US Air Force