JPME
Naval War College Phasing Out Legacy CDROM Course
From U.S. Naval War College Public Affairs
NEWPORT, R.I. (NNS) - U.S. Naval War College (NWC) will no longer enroll new students in the CDROM program offered through the school’s College of Distance Education (CDE) after Sept. 30.
The CDROM program is being phased out due to better, more interactive education delivery options and declining student enrollment.
“This CDROM program is really a legacy offering that was developed to replace a paperbased correspondence course,” said Timothy Garrold, deputy dean of the College of Distance Education at NWC. “Instead of sending students a box of books and papers and then have them submit their graded work by postal mail or fax, we sent course materials contained on CDs.”
While CDROM courses were a breakthrough at the time, they have become outdated.
As students have come to expect more speed, interaction and efficiency, the move to the web enabled programs is a better option that allows students more access to colleagues and teachers according to Garrold.
“The amount of interaction that students experience in webbased courses with other students and with faculty were really the most important factors in pressing for the change,” he said. “We were kind of fooling ourselves that a selfpaced, selftaught course had the rigor required for the same level of training and education as that available to what a student can get online and in our Fleet Seminar Program.”
Students are already frequently choosing online courses over the CDROM programs.
“The numbers have been dropping for the CDROM program,” said Garrold. “The demand signal for the CDROM has slowly declined over the years.”
Those wanting to earn the masters and their intermediate Joint Professional Military Education (JPME) credit through NWC distance education courses can still do so through the Fleet Seminar program.
Garrold explained that some resources currently devoted to the CDROM program may now be reassigned to the webbased programs making them an even faster and a better choice for students.
Students currently enrolled in the CDROM program and those who enroll prior to the deadline will still be able to finish the program within 20 months. The CDROM program will terminate entirely May 31, 2019 20 months from the Sept. 30 deadline.
Specifics of the CDROM program phase out are explained in NAVADMIN 233/17. CDE doesn’t anticipate other changes to course delivery methodologies.
NWC is a oneyear resident program that graduates about 600 resident students and about 1,000 distance learning students each year. Its primary mission is to educate and develop future leaders. Additional missions include: helping to define the future Navy and its roles and missions, supporting combat readiness, strengthening global maritime partnerships, promoting ethics and leadership throughout the force, contributing knowledge to shape effective decisions through our John B. Hattendorf Center for Maritime Historical Research, providing expertise and advice to the international legal community through the Stockton Center for the Study of International Law. Students earn JPME credit and either a diploma or a master’s degree in national security and strategic studies or defense and strategic studies. Established in 1884, U.S. Naval War College is the oldest institution of its kind in the world. More than 50,000 students have graduated since its first class of nine students in 1885 and about 300 of today’s active duty admirals, generals and senior executive service leaders are alumni.
Outside the Box Opportunities
Here are the slides for a lecture on “Outside the Box Opportunities” that I gave at the 2017 Transition to Practice Symposium at NMCSD for all the graduating residents and fellows:
Topics covered include:
- Moving after your are selected for promotion
- How to PCS away from a command you want to leave before your rotation date
- Naval Hospital 29 Palms
- AQDs
- JPME
- Naval Postgraduate School Distance Learning MBA program
- CMO and OIC positions
- Job announcements on this blog
Here is a video podcast:
Detailing Update – Orders, PRDs, Resignation, Retirement, a Survey, and War College
Here are a few notes one of the Detailers sent out yesterday:
Delayed Order Release
Due to financial constraints, no orders have been released in the last several weeks. We acknowledge this is incredibly inconvenient to our constituents. Standby for more information, we will pass it as we get it.
Expired Projected Rotation Dates (PRDs)
Many officers have PRDs that are set to expire this summer. Officers with expired PRDs are attractive targets to place in high priority OCONUS and operational billets. Please get your extension requests in ASAP.
Resignation/Retirement
Officers planning to resign or retire should have their requests in 9 months prior to their requested detachment month. Requests turned in less than 6 to 9 months prior to requested detachment will be kicked back. There were several officers extended past their obligation because they did not send their request in on time.
I recommend reading CDR Schofer’s blog post entitled “How to Resign Worry Free.”
The earliest these can be submitted is 12 months prior to requested detach date.
Survey for Officers with a 2017 PRD
If your PRD was in 2017 and you accepted PCS orders or extended, please consider completing a one minute survey to assess attitudes regarding the billet assignment process among Medical Corps officers. The survey will close June 1st.
Last year we administered a survey of Navy Medical Corps officers to assess attitudes regarding the billet assignment process. We took measures to improve the process for billets assigned in 2017 and we are administering another short survey to measure improvement. The results, available at the end of the survey, will be briefed to leadership and made public. THANK YOU!
Naval War College
PERS needs people for the August 2017 Naval War College class. Applicants must have completed Joint Professional Military Education 1. They will consider breaking orders for appropriate applicants. Please see this blog post for a War College description by a current student.
Guest Post – Got JPME?
[Editor’s Note: The POC for anyone interested in War College is the Detailer. A cheat sheet of all the Joint Professional Military Education (JPME) options can be found here. If you’re interested in submitting a guest post, contact me here.]
By CDR Lanny Littlejohn, MC, USN (Lanny.Littlejohn < at > usnwc.edu)
I rolled out of bed at 0700 this morning to finish my paper on corruption in the Ukraine. Ukraine is currently the most corrupt country in all of Europe; its corruption destabilizes it to the point that it is subject to influence from its eastern neighbor, Russia. Russia is currently in a “hybrid” war with Ukraine, a new type of warfare that Russia has been perfecting for the past decade. The Chinese are perfecting a different type called “unrestricted” warfare. Then there is ISIS. Two months ago, I had very little insight into these issues. After finishing the paper, I went to class at the Blue Plate Diner in Newport wearing jeans, flops, and sweatshirt since it is cooling off a bit up here in RI. I have not put a uniform in quite some time. This week we have “seminar” for three hours each morning (M-Th), with the afternoons, and all of Friday, off to work on assignments. While not a walk in the park, it is different enough from medicine to serve as a well deserved breather I have enjoyed so far. You should strongly consider getting your Joint Profession Military Education (JPME) on.
Programs and Prerequisites
There are two primary programs of study at the Naval War College (NWC): the junior (JPME-1) and the senior program (JPME-2). The junior program (JPME-1) is completed as a resident or nonresident. Nonresident options include the fleet seminar program, NWC online program, and from war colleges of other services. I received my JPME-1 via the NWC online program several years ago. There is also a rare opportunity for officers at the 12-15 year mark to attend JPME-1 as a resident here [limited to O4 and below]. However, medical officers will likely need to obtain JPME-1 as a nonresident.
The senior program is via the College of Naval Warfare (CNW). Officers selected have typically completed JPME-1 and apply through their detailer at the 15-20 year mark (O5 or O6). Completion of this residency program grants a Master of Arts in National Security and Strategic Studies. Accreditation is via the New England Association of Schools and Colleges.
For both JPME-1 and JPME-2, there are three courses: Joint Military Operations (JMO), National Security Decision Making (NSDM), and Strategy and Policy (S&P). The main difference between the two programs is that the junior course focuses on the Tactical/Operational level and the senior course on the higher Strategic level. As a resident at the NWC, you are also required to take an elective each trimester. I just finished the Political Warfare elective – super cool.
Additional Qualifier Designations (AQDs) are awarded for JPME-1 and JPME-2. Many elective pathways also result in an AQD. So that’s three AQDs you can receive if you are an AQD collector – I know you’re out there. [And promotion boards know that these AQDs are difficult to get, unlike some of the others.]
The Environment
NWC is academia at its best. Students wear business casual so that neither service nor rank are distinguished. All services are in attendance including the Coast Guard. You will find that there are several interagency (State Department, Justice Department, CIA, etc.) students and many international students as well. There may be one lecture per week with the entire student body, but most classes are in a seminar (12 students, two instructors). My seminar includes students from Greece, Lebanon, and Singapore along with two “agency” students and six other service students. Teaching is Socratic (You know, that method you thought you would be using before receiving the letter of rejection from Harvard). Exams are essay – not multiple choice. You do not have to publish, but many of the best papers are submitted for publication. This should definitely help your Google H-index.
Follow on Assignments
Medical officers who complete JPME-2 are highly valued at the higher levels in operational medicine. This may be as a joint force command surgeon, fleet surgeon, a Pentagon tour, or in any of the various naval service operational commands. This follow-on assignment is not a requirement, however. Your Detailer and Specialty Leader will ultimately work with you on what your next assignment will be. Some have returned to the MTF after NWC only to go operational on the very next tour. Commitment after obtaining JPME-2 is two years, served concurrently with any existing obligations.
Benefits
There are several beneficiaries of a tour at the NWC. First, you and your family. Newport and surrounding vicinity is a great place to live with good schools and lots of history and activities. If you have been in the MTF for multiple tours, you may need a break so a brief sabbatical here can help recharge the batteries. You will still work hard (tons of reading and paper writing) but time structure is on your terms. Second, your specialty and our Navy. Every specialty in Navy Medicine (with rare exceptions) has elements that operationalize to support the mission of the Navy. To have the 30,000-foot strategic view of how your part comes into play is a great benefit to your specialty and service. Third, the nation needs thinkers and leaders. We all have the feeling that something has gone sideways in the last few decades. We need strong leaders who have the integrity to make the tough calls and argue for the right decisions on the national level. After you leave the naval service, this education and degree will go with you and will likely have great utility no matter how your large your future circle of influence may be.
- ← Previous
- 1
- 2
- 3
Joel Schofer's Career Planning Blog 