Correspondence Course Review

[Sam I am]

14139MATH, BASIC MATH AND ALGEBRA
- 22 pts...cha ching.


Holy moly...good thing I majored in Math in college. Anyway, this one sucked. Not going to lie. A LOT of tedious calculation...have google handy. NOt hard. Just mind numbing calculation. I printed the Text Book 4 pages to a sheet. You can read the text and all figures they refer you back to during the assignments, but you won't be able to read the tables for SIN, COS, TAN...Logs or Anti Logs. Like I said...have google handy. There are online calcs for a lot of those type questions. I brute forced through a lot of it with pencil and paper just to see if I "still had it". Yep...still a nerd. Check.

 

[Sam I am]

14082AEQUAL OPPORTUNITY IN THE NAVY
3 pts. Very simple...2 hours total and that's only because I caught myself reading the material intently.

Good year complete...2 weeks from start to finish. Boom.

 

[atmahan]

I just finished all 5 of the History of the Chaplain Corps courses plus Captivity from NRTC. Its all pretty interesting and basically hunt and peck to answer the questions (but nearly all sequential). I never knew much about the Chaplain Corps and now know their official history from the Revolutionary War to the Vietnam War. They deservedly should be proud of their Corps.

The Captivity course includes a lot of Chaplain material due to their roles in POW repatriation. Plus now I know what to do to avoid going crazy should I ever become a POW (you never know).

I did the other extreme from Sam I am. I did 115 points. Took me 7 months off and on.

In addition to the History of Chaplain Corps Courses (14281 - 14285) and Captivity (14316) I did:

Time Conversion (14252), has math in it, some of it pretty annoying

Math, Trig (14140), has A LOT more math in it!

Math, Pre-Calc, and Prob (14141), NO WORDS CAN DESCRIBE HOW MUCH MATH IN IT!

Fluid Power (14105), Technical but fun

NEETS Module 8 - Amplifiers (14180A), technical and less fun

Boatswain's Mate (14343A), nostalgic for a black shoe like me

Military Reqs, 3 & 2 (14504), more SWO gouge

For my next Anniversary Year I plan on doing all the NEETs modules plus any fillers to round out my 115.

And yes, I enjoy the pain and misery in case you are wondering.

 

[vxc961]

I just finished Joint Military Operations, which is my final course for JPME 1!
-Thoughts on the course: It was actually interesting, although I think that was helped a great bit by the professor. It's the longest of the three NWC courses, but that material makes it much more interesting (to me) than something like Theater Security Decision Making (TSDM). Early on we could choose a case study of the Battle of Leyte Gulf (I think), or the Falklands. I chose the Falklands, because it was something different from what you see on the history channel a million times a day. Then there are some fictional scenarios you work through, one in North Africa and the other in PACOM--both were really interesting, and gave me a glimpse of what it might take to make such things happens.
-Thoughts on the Moderator: He was fantastic! (A) He was a good instructor, able to communicate his ideas well, (B) he was willing to really walk us through, step by step, on the larger projects, and (C) He was very flexible with grading. I was surprised at how different my three different Moderators were, but I would definitely say I liked the Navets the most (1 was a civ prof). It seems like they get a certain amount of latitude in how they run their course--one required frequent, online group discussions (which could be a pain if it was a busy week for work, family, or reserves). Another didn't seem to have any wiggle room in deadlines, and when reading the critique seemed to think she'd taught me things that I'd never seen before.

Time: My JMO course went from May to Feb! We had no homework Thanksgiving or Christmas weeks, which pushed things back from a published Jan 16 finish to about a month later. I'd say I spent an average of about 3hrs a week, and if I was busy and let the prof know, there was no problem turning things in late. With the slide to the right, the final OPORD fell at a really bad time, and I missed the deadline completely. I sleazed something out in a few hours, and got a B- on it, which has to be the lowest grade their willing to give! Honestly, I was embarrassed, and emailed the prof to apologize for the shoddy OPORD after I saw his comments. Despite my embarrassment and his justified criticism, I think he knew I just needed to turn something in and be done with it. I wish it was a better finish, but at least it's done!

To anybody thinking of getting JPME 1, or just getting points in the IRR, I think the NWC is a decent deal.

 

[atmahan]

I second vxc961 recommendation for JPME Phase 1! I also struggled with the OPORD Final when it came to the war gaming part and I was called out by the Professor but still received a passing grade.

My personal favorite of the 3 classes was National Security Decision Making (NSDM) because of their focus on self-awareness and organizational behavior at the very beginning. I can't tell you how valuable the insight I learned regarding this has been in my professional civilian (and sometimes personal) life!

I've kept all the material from the courses that you don't have to return in case I ever find myself in an actual Staff position.

vxc961,

Congrats! Once you get your diploma make sure you send in your diploma to PERS-313, plus a copy for your OMPF, and get the "JS7 AQD" into the IMAPMIS (the Reserve Database) that feeds your OSR, and the JMIS (DOD Database).

PM me if you want a telephone number for the database entries part.

atmahan

 

[Paul W]

Partial list of DAU courses and verified point totals (2007-present) No CAC access required!
https://learn.dau.mil

No courses listed here require proctors. Standard click-through every page of every lesson format. Exam is online and requires 100% to complete.

In general, the courses prefixed with "CL..." are continuous learning courses, and you get 99 chances to get 100% on the exam.
Other courses only get 3 chances to pass the exam with 100%. To make the exam effectively an open book exam, print out a copy of each course section or save as PDF, then use those files while you're taking the exam.

After completing each course, print (or save as PDF) the graduation certificate and fax to PERS-912 for credit.

Do you work as a government contractor, service contractor, or part of the defense industry? These courses are great training and continuing education.

I'll post a more complete list in about 6 months once I've finished a few more.

Enjoy, reserve warriors!

BCF 106 Fundamentals of Cost Analysis 9
CLE 001 Value Engineering 1
CLE 003 Technical Reviews 1
CLE 004 Introduction to Lean Enterprise Concepts 1
CLE 006 Enterprise Integration Overview 1
CLE 007 Lean Six Sigma for Manufacturing 2
CLE 008 Six Sigma: Concepts and Processes 2
CLE 009 ESOH in Systems Engineering 1
CLE 012 DoD Open Systems Architecture (OSA) 1
CLE 016 Outcome-Based Performance Measures 1
CLE 023 Modeling and Simulation for Test and Evaluation 1
CLE017 Technical Planning 1
CLG001 Government Purchase Card 1
CLG004 Government Purchase Card Refresher 1
CLM 016 Cost Estimating 2
CLM 021 Intro to Reducing Total Ownership Costs 1
CLM028 Space Acquisition 1
CLR 101 Introduction to the Joint Capabilities Integration & Development System 1
CON 100 Shaping Smart Business Arrangements 6
CON 121 Contract Planning 3
CON 124 Contract Execution 3
CON 127 Contract Management 2
CON 200 Business Decisions for Contracting 8
CON 216 Legal Considerations in Contracting 10
CON-237 Simplified Acquisition Procedures 5
CON-260 AThe Small Business Program, Part A 5
FE201 Facilities Engineering 7
IRM-101 Basics Information Systems Acquisition 12
LOG 103 Reliability, Availability & Maintenance 4
LOG102 Fundamentals of System Sustainment Management 8
PQM-101 Production, Quality, and Manufacturing Fundamentals 3
RQM 110 Core Concepts for Requirements Management 8

 

[Sam I am]

Dang. Looks like https://learn.dau.mil is CAC only...

 

[vxc961]

Dang. Looks like https://learn.dau.mil is CAC only...

Bummer...
I signed up for the Joint Forces Staff College, Senior Enlisted JPME. They seem to sort of run it like a "class", and open it for admission a few times a year, with a finite time period to finish. Mine was Feb to May. Anyway, you get three tries at the final exam, so I decided to punt and just go straight there. It took me a little over an hour (you get two), and I got a 92 having done ZERO of the lessons. I did recently finish the Navy's JPME phase 1, which helped, but I think anybody could do what I did and pass. I think it's 14 points, and a lot, I mean a LOT easier than any NKO or NETC course for the same amount of time.

 

[Sam I am]

Just did the NETC Course: 14014A Airman 18 pts. Took about 4 hours...phrase recognition...mostly in order, but does skip back periodically but within the same chapter. HUGE files to download, so high speed is a must. I'm part owner of the business I work at so I printed it just for shiggles. I printed both sides of the paper and I still had a stack of pages at least 2 inches thick! So, I'd print your chapter assignments and just save the chapter text to your computer. EASY MONEY here folks.

 

[Duncan Idaho]

Dang. Looks like https://learn.dau.mil is CAC only...

It shouldn't be. They made it cumbersome through a Single-Login thing, but I can usually get it just fine after multiple clicks and links and stuff. It does appear to be down tonight though.

Something to note, you do not have to be a DOD contractor or in an acquisition billet to take these classes. Signing up for a course merely asks you for your company name and supervisor. A buddy of mine owns an LLC that was intended to be a defense contractor but he never did anything with it. I use his company and list him as my supervisor. (Though I was in an Acq Billet on active duty and I did this stuff for 6 years as a contractor before moving to my current, non-DOD job.)

Here's a list I made of the points awarded for each course. The "CLPs/Hours" column gives you an idea of how long the course is expected to take if you read and study every single slide. If you've been around DOD Acquisition before, you can probably simply pound the Next Slide button until you reach a test. I can knock out an 7 point course in a single weekend morning if I focus.

Code Course Title CLPs / hours Reserve Pts Notes
BCF 106 Fundamentals of Cost Analysis 37 9
SYS 101 Fundamentals of Systems Planning, Research, Development, and Engineering 35 9
SAM 101 Basic Software Acquisition Management 34 9
IRM 101 Basic Information Systems Acquisition 34 9
LOG 200 Intermediate Acquisition Logistics, Part A 32 8
BCF 220 Acquisition Business Management Concepts 27 7
LOG 206 Intermediate Systems Sustainment Management 27 7
LOG 101 Acquisition Logistics Fundamentals 27 7 seems long but isn't awful
BCF 103 Fundamentals of Business Financial Management 26 7
LOG 102 Fundamentals of System Sustainment Management' 25 6
ACQ 101 Fundamentals of Systems Acquisition Management 25 6
CON 200 Business Decisions for Contracting 25 6
CON 216 Legal Considerations in Contracting 23 6
LOG 103 Reliability, Availability, and Maintainability (RAM) 22 6 Slow. Lots of small lessons per module. Large number of questions per module.
ACQ 120 Fundamentals of International Acquisition (FIAC) 21 5
PMT 251 Program Management Tools Course, Part I 20 5
RQM 110 Core Concepts for Requirements Management 19 5
LOG 235 Performance-Based Logistics 19 5
EVM 101 Fundamentals of Earned Value Management 18 5
LOG 204 Configuration Management 18 5
FE 201 Intermediate Facilities Engineering 18 4
CON 100 Shaping Smart Business Arrangements 16 4
CON 124 Contract Execution 13 3
PQM 101 Production, Quality, and Manufacturing Fundamentals 13 3
PQM 201A Intermediate Production, Quality, and Manufacturing, Part A 12 3
CON 121 Contract Planning 12 3
ACQ 130 Fundamentals of Technology Security/Transfer (FTS/T) 12 3
CON 127 Contract Management 10 3
CON 260A The Small Business Program, Part A 10 3
SYS 202 Intermediate Systems Planning, Research, Development, and Engineering, Part I 9 2
CON 237 Simplified Acquisition Procedures 6 2


Also, here are some courses I do not recommend (or recommend with caution)--
PQM 203 Preparation of Commercial Item Description for Engineering and Technical Personnel 6 0 No Pts!
PMT 257 Program Management Tools Course, Part II 43 0 No Pts!
PMT 352A Program Management Office Course, Part A 22 6 Prereq is PMT 257
TST 102 Fundamentals of Test and Evaluation 18 5 Homework!
ACQ 201A Intermediate Systems Acquisition, Part A 25 6 Unskippable crap

TST102 was a pretty good course content-wise but there were two homework assignments that had to be submitted to instructors. One of the assignments asked incorrect/illogical questions. I spent a lot of time on that homework. Granted, for 5 points it should have taken 20 hours and I spent maybe 8 hours total. But considering that I normally average about 2pts / hour for these courses I consider that a bum deal.

EDIT: I see the formatting of my table disappeared. If you can't make sense of it, let me know and I'll try again.

 

[Duncan Idaho]

It shouldn't be. They made it cumbersome through a Single-Login thing, but I can usually get it just fine after multiple clicks and links and stuff. It does appear to be down tonight though.

I appears that the Single Sign-on isn't working with Chrome, but I can get in just fine (without a CAC) using Internet Explorer.

 

[m5h9]

14139MATH, BASIC MATH AND ALGEBRA
- 22 pts...cha ching.


Holy moly...good thing I majored in Math in college. Anyway, this one sucked. Not going to lie. A LOT of tedious calculation...

I will have to agree that 14139 Math sucks pretty bad. Even with a solid math background and an engineery job, I had to do a deep dive on my mental hard-drive. The course covers new concepts briskly and spans a decade or so of math education (a long time ago).

I prefer the courses ending in A, as the tests typically range 25 - 55 questions vice 75 questions. I haven't cracked the DAU login code, but will keep trying.

 

[Sam I am]

I haven't cracked the DAU login code, but will keep trying.

I gave this some effort today and ended up calling their help desk to see if I was the problem or their website. According to their help desk you must have a CAC to participate in DAU. No exceptions. Additionally, there are no plans to develop user name & password access. So...that's a bummer. I suppose it's possible that the help desk is clueless, but this lady sounded like she had her stuff wired pretty tight.

 

[vxc961]

I prefer the courses ending in A, as the tests typically range 25 - 55 questions vice 75 questions. I haven't cracked the DAU login code, but will keep trying.

Yeah, but you can "game" those courses with more questions/sections. Once you're confident you've got 80%, you can just put "C" down for all the answers. I did that for Seabee combat warfare. The booby trap/ camp stuff was fun, but the CBR stuff was CRAZY! I did the other sections, passed them with enough to get an 80% overall, then flubbed the CBR section.

 

[ben4prez]

Just saw this hit the streets -- seems retirement points are a bit harder to obtain now!

UNCLASSIFIED//
RTTUZYUW RHOIAAA0001 2311504-UUUU--RHSSSUU.
ZNR UUUUU
R 191101Z AUG 14
FM COMNAVRESFOR NORFOLK VA
TO NAVRESFOR
INFO CNO WASHINGTON DC
COMNAVRESFOR NORFOLK VA
BT
UNCLAS
SUBJ/POLICY CHANGE FOR AWARDING NON-PAY RETIREMENT POINTS FOR MSGID/GENADMIN/COMNAVRESFOR NORFOLK VA// CORRESPONDENCE COURSES// NAVRESFOR 016/14// POC/LUNA/LCDR/COMNAVRESFOR/NORFOLK VA/TEL: CML (757) 322-6595/
E-MAIL: JUAN.LUNA(AT)NAVY.MIL//
RMKS/1. The ability for Reserve Component (RC) personnel to receive retirement points for voluntary completion of correspondence courses is an important aspect of the Navy?s Total Force Continuum of Service concept. It enables the Navy to retain personnel with strategically valuable skills, expands the flexible service options for those unable to conduct regular drills due to short-term conflicts, and provides a method for crediting completion of electronically available training. To ensure the process for authorizing, auditing, and awarding of retirement points is compliant with DOD Instruction 1215.07, the following changes will go into effect 1 October 2014.
2. Commander, Navy Personnel Command (CNPC) has advised that they will cease automated crediting of retirement points for correspondence courses completed through Navy Knowledge Online, the Naval Education and Training Command non-resident training course website, and any other system which automatically awards retirement points for completion of electronically delivered training, effective 1 October 2014.
3. Non-pay retirement points for completion of correspondence courses shall be credited at the rate of one point per 4 hours of instruction. Courses which contain less than 4 hours of instruction are not eligible for retirement point credit. Commander, Navy Reserve Forces Command (COMNAVRESFORCOM) (N7) will maintain an Assistant Secretary of the Navy (ASN) approved list of authorized courses. These courses will be posted to the Navy Reserve Homeport
at: https://private.navyreserve.navy.mil/cnrfc/n-codes/n7/pages/
default.aspx. If a course is not currently listed on the master course listing, it may be submitted to COMNAVRESFORCOM (N7) for routing to and possible approval by ASN for addition to the master list.
4. Awarding authorities will ensure the course of instruction is included on the list of authorized courses and provides such military value that it will enhance the individual RC Sailor?s professional development through:
a. Broadening their qualifications for duties to which they may be expected to perform upon mobilization, or b. Broadening their knowledge of the qualifications of those whose work they may supervise.
c. Sailors currently enrolled in correspondence courses not meeting the above criteria will have until 1 October 2014 to complete the course and receive credit. Such courses completed after
1 October 2014 will not be honored.
5. Authorizing and awarding authorities for completion of correspondence courses for retirement point credit are:
a. Navy Operational Support Center (NAVOPSPTCEN) Commanding Officer or designated representative is responsible for Selected Reservists
(SELRES) assigned to the Operational Support Unit and Individual Ready Reserve (IRR) members of the Voluntary Training Unit and Voluntary Participation Unit, and b. Navy Reserve Unit Commanding Officer (which includes
squadrons) or designated representative for assigned SELRES, and c. PERS-912 for members of the IRR - Active Status Pool (IRR-ASP), and Standby Reserve-Active (USNR-S1), and d. PERS-912 for all Continuing Medical Education (CME) credit. CME courses are reviewed and approved by the Bureau of Medicine and Surgery (BUMED) prior to PERS-912 crediting.
e. COMNAVRESFORCOM (N14) for Strategic Sealift Officers assigned to the Strategic Sealift Readiness Group (RUIC 2525N).
6. Navy Reserve Activities (NRA) will complete and ensure the following procedures are met when processing correspondence courses for retirement points:
a. Follow procedures outlined in the NSIPS tutorial located at:
https://private.navyreserve.navy.mil/cnrfc/NCodes/N1/CNRFC_N1C2/
SitePages/Home.aspx
b. Ensure the Sailor receives prior approval from Commanding Officer or designated representative to enroll in and receive credit for the applicable correspondence courses via NAVPERS 1336/3, Special Request/Authorization.
c. Ensure the Sailor signs a NAVPERS 1070/613, Administrative Remarks, indicating their understanding that they may not receive retirement points for concurrent activities. Accordingly, they cannot be awarded retirement points for correspondence courses completed while in an Active or Inactive duty status, for which retirement point credit is awarded, such as Inactive Duty Training, Inactive Duty Training Travel, Inactive Duty, Additional Training Period, Additional Flying and Flight Training Period, Readiness Management Period, Annual Training, Active Duty for Training, Active Duty for Special Work, Definite Recall, or Mobilization.
d. Ensure the Sailor provides the NRA with a copy of the approved NAVPERS 1336/3 and course certificate of completion.
e. The NRA will verify the correspondence course is on the ASN approved list and that the member was not performing Inactive or Active service at the time of course completion prior to making the NSIPS entry.
7. Non-drilling IRR Sailors can fax or mail certificates of completion to PERS-912. Once sent, allow 60 days for the points to post to the online record. Certificates can be faxed to
(901)874-7044 or mailed to Navy Personnel Command, PERS-912, 5720 Integrity Drive, Millington, TN 38055. To confirm receipt or to answer questions concerning the crediting of courses call NPC Customer Service at 1-866-827-5672.
8. Credit for courses must be entered within 12 months of the completion date. All courses with completion dates outside of 12 months must be entered by PERS-912. The applicable approval authority must provide an approval endorsement with the completion certificate and forward it to PERS-912.
9. Further information can be found on the COMNAVRESFORCOM (N7) website at: https://private.navyreserve.navy.mil/cnrfc/n-codes/
n7/pages/default.aspx.
10. Released by VADM R. R. Braun, Commander, Navy Reserve Force.// BT
#0001
NNNN