Major General Andrea Tullos, Second Air Force Commander

Second Air Force is responsible for conducting basic military and technical training for US Air Force enlisted members and non-flying officers. Group Editor Marty Kauchak relates MG Tullos’ insights on the transformation of military classrooms.

MS&T: Provide a datum point, please, of the approximate number of brick-and-mortar classrooms in the Second Air Force “claimancy.”
Major General Tullos (MGT): Second Air Force has 165 training pipelines, and each pipeline has multiple classrooms, but they probably aren’t the kinds of classrooms you’re envisioning – some may be what you would call “brick-and-mortar” but much of our Air Force fights from platforms that aren’t brick-and-mortar so many of our classrooms are non-traditional – they are hangars, flight-lines, woodlands and open fields, weapons ranges, aircraft, and vehicles.

In order to build an airman and set the foundation correctly, all we need are recruits who meet initial qualifications with the will to serve. Then our military training instructors passionately go about the business of instilling good order and discipline, core values, and the basic combat skills necessary to succeed in the profession of arms. As we demonstrated last year, we can build those airmen anywhere we have to and we don’t necessarily need a classroom to do it. As immersive learning technology becomes more portable, our definition of what makes a classroom is evolving – our training focus is shifting more toward the learner and the desired outcomes, and away from the notion that instruction should entail brick-and-mortar classrooms with rows of desks and chairs and individual written tests. We fight as a team and, more and more, we’re training as teams in an environment as close to combat as we can create.

MS&T: How has the use of Second Air Force classrooms been impacted by the pandemic? And could you summarize the instructional strategies which helped migrate some of the content to out-of-classroom learning activities during Covid-19?
MGT: With challenge comes opportunity – Covid-19 allowed Second Air Force to accelerate efforts to break the brick-and-mortar classroom paradigm. We’re exploring, and finding success, with virtual learning in training pipelines we might otherwise not have tested – we have airmen learning foreign languages virtually, we have instructors who are virtually connected to multiple sets of students to monitor who is accelerating through curricula and who is struggling, and we’re connecting disparate classrooms to collaborate, real-time, on exercises and virtual training, whereas we used to rely on simulated participation or utilized a “white cell” to garner inputs.

By flipping classrooms, our instructors now spend less time lecturing from a podium and more time facilitating student-centered learning where the trainees are able to assist each other and collaborate to solve problems and complete exercises. This allows instructors to assist those who may need additional instruction or to deliver lessons in a manner certain individuals are more receptive to – whether it’s providing an audiobook, demonstrating a task for a visual learner, or giving that student additional time to re-read material, which is available online. By training to task and not to time, the instructors can adapt the program of instruction to the strengths and weaknesses of a particular class and allow the students to progress at the speed of learning. It’s empowering our trainees to take on leadership roles in the classroom and inspiring our instructors, who are energized by the enthusiasm of the trainees and their passion for learning and succeeding as a team.

MS&T: What is Second Air Force’s vision for intended use of traditional classrooms beyond the pandemic: will they remain relevant to the command’s learning and education programs?
MGT: In Second Air Force we believe there will always be a place for traditional, brick-and-mortar classrooms in our delivery of technical training, but those classrooms need to be multi-purpose and able to be reconfigured as the curriculum dictates. The training environment, regardless of what the “classroom” looks like, needs to treat the internet as a utility – just like power, heating, and air conditioning. The connectivity and speed need to be as seamless as turning on the lights, regardless of whether it’s wireless, 5G, or operating in a classified network.

MS&T: What are some of the new technologies being introduced into Second Air Force classrooms to not only transform near-term AETC classroom-based learning, but also move training and education off-site when necessary?
MGT: Second Air Force is continuously pursuing AR/VR/XR capabilities to bring the operational Air Force into the classroom and connect airmen to the domains where they will fight after graduation. With the Air Force as small as it’s ever been and with our weapon systems as costly as they are, we should not have to purchase additional systems used only for training – we should be able to virtualize much of the knowledge-based training necessary to set a foundation and get airmen to their operational units faster so their hands-on experience can begin. They can integrate into their team sooner, and they can build experience and proficiency earlier in their initial tour, and therefore enhance mission readiness across our core competencies.

MS&T: What might the AETC classroom of 2025 look like?
MGT: Speaking for Second Air Force, the classroom of the future is a large, open room with walls that can virtually display 360-degree, panoramic views of any environment needed for training. The middle of the room can project to-scale weapon systems, materials, or processes, which instructors can rotate for trainees to view, assemble, disassemble and virtually “touch” to perform tasks. The projection systems should be portable, lightweight, and with agile power requirements (battery, solar, etc.) that are easily set up as “outdoor classrooms” so more tactile training pipelines can break into a lecture in the midst of field training.

MS&T: How can the simulation & training industry better support meeting this requirement?
MGT: Get smaller, lighter, solar/battery-powered, and all-weather/outdoor resilient. Get the AR/VR/XR system reduced to either as un-intrusive as light sunglasses or a HUD; or get rid of the individual need to wear headgear and get the images into the environment for all to see at once. There are too many students standing around while a few use the AR/VR/XR devices.