Online Skills Program Helps 10,000th Sailors with College, Career Change

By Ed Barker, Naval Education and Training Command Public Affairs

PENSACOLA, Fla. (NNS) -- The Navy's Online Academic Skills Course (OASC) logged its 10,000th Navy user April 12, less than one year since transitioning to a solely Web-based program.

"Sailors looking at a change of rating should start with their Command Career Counselor," said Master Chief Navy Career Counselor (SW/SCW/AW) Tod Shuls, Naval Education and Training Command force retention program manager. "The OASC is one of the tools that we can use to get Sailors where they need to be career-wise, and counselors review and track individual progress and verify completion of the program."

The OASC is a self-paced academic skills improvement program that evaluates an individual's reading level, vocabulary, and math ability. The program then designs customized individual lessons to increase proficiency in each of these academic areas.

Participants start by taking a pre-test to establish their areas that need improvement. After each module completion, a post-test is given to determine improvement. Participants can choose the length and depth of the courses based on needs and time available, including an abbreviated review with shortened lessons.

"The OASC helped me not only increase my ASVAB (Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery) score by nearly 20 points, but also helped me prepare for college placement exams," said Ship's Serviceman 2nd Class (SW/AW) Ashlei Alexander, assistant to the Career Counselor at Naval Air Station (NAS) Pensacola. "I'll be using the OASC again soon for a college math test I'm about to take."

The program gives Sailors 24-hour world-wide access to OASC from any computer with an internet connection. Each lesson is supported by interactive exercises such as drag-and-drop matching, and videogame-style, multiple choice or dynamic flash cards. Quizzes and practice problem sets help students gauge how well they are mastering the material.

"The OASC is accepted as one of the qualifiers that Sailors must have to retake the ASVAB," said Tom Smith, enlisted education coordinator for the Naval Education and Training Command (NETC). "One justification choice is showing that they have improved their educational and academic skills since their initial test, and the OASC online courses are accepted as demonstrating positive improvement in education. The test that current active-duty and Reserve service members take to improve their ASVAB score is the AFCT (Armed Forces Classification Test)."

In addition to around-the-clock access from any Internet connection, the OASC is also available to Department of Defense family members and government civilians at no charge.

OASC is available at www.nko.navy.mil via the NKO Learning Tab and on the Navy College Website under the academic skills link. Navigation to OASC is also available at: http://www.nelnetsolutions.com/dantes/.