76th SMXG integrates online teaching tool, saving millions

  • Published
  • By Kevan Goff-Parker, Staff Writer
  • 72nd Air Base Wing Public Affairs

In 2014, Tinker Air Force Base’s 76th Software Maintenance Group experienced increased growth in manpower leading to an all-time high in the need for classroom training requirements.


The challenge was that traditional classroom training costs could range up to nearly $1,700 per person, depending on the complexity of the material and length of the course.


Seeking a solution, 76th SMXG Director Michael Jennings tasked Training Management Team Member Marlon Wilson with evaluating the Pluralsight online training platform for use at 76th SMXG, as well as the other two SMXGs at Robins and Hill AFBs.


The TMT found that Pluralsight was an affordable alternative to traditional classroom training and determined that online training needed to be flexible and applicable to a wide variety of engineers across multiple training topics.


“One of the flights in the 76th SMXG had received training in a classroom setting from a company named Pluralsight,” Wilson said. “After a few years, Pluralsight upgraded their learning capabilities to provide on-demand online training, but the $499 cost per license was prohibitive.”


He said Pluralsight hoped to develop a relationship with the government that would foster future contracts, and the 76th SMXGs needed a lot of computer language training courses the SMXGs could not afford to fund, as well as the secondary courses employees need to keep up-to-speed.


The TMT met with a Pluralsight representative and initiated a pilot program with the company, designed to generate interest among software engineers.

Wilson said the first two months of the program were free and the TMT negotiated a much-reduced price of $74 per license.


“Pluralsight met most of the software programming language training requirements including C++ Programming, C# Programming, Java and Ethical Hacker,” he said.


The 76th SMXG’s pilot program and successes were shared across the group’s enterprise.


Wilson annually conducts surveys analyzing the success of the Pluralsight training and said many users provided positive feedback. This feedback led to the Air Force Sustainment Center Engineering Directorate establishing a blanket purchase agreement for five years of service with Pluralsight at $79 per license. The engineering directorates, as well as the SMXG enterprise partners were included in this effort.


“The contract must maintain at least 750 licenses among our three workforce locations,” he said. “This year, so far 76th SMXG has had a cost avoidance of $1.8 million and $1.3 million for last year when compared to previous training methods.”


The 76th SMXG’s efforts were recently recognized with a Cost Effective Readiness Award.


“Pluralsight has evolved along the way and now provides 6,000 courses and we’ve seen significant savings,” Wilson said. “It’s on-demand learning. Right now, we have branched out to deploy the online training tool to our Air Force Sustainment Center Engineering and Technical Management Directorate throughout the complexes.”