| Notes |
Learning Engineering, Talent Management, and Modernization
The iFEST 2018 agenda featured discussion panels on learning engineering, talent management, and breaking down the barriers to learning modernization in government. Senior government leaders from the Department of Defense, Intelligence Community, Office of Personnel Management, and Department of Treasury shared their perspectives on these topics. They were also joined by industry professionals from the IEEE, Rustici Software, and SAIC as well as standardized testing titan, ACT.
The overall message that could serve as a summary of the facilitated session on Learning Engineering is best reflected in the statement of one of the panelists, Michelle Barrett, Vice President at ACT. Barrett said: "We are committed to leveraging learning engineering to advance workforce capability, be it uniformed or civilian. What is missing across the discipline today is a lack of understanding of learning engineering. We need to identify risks and work through them – deliberately – as a team."
The talent management system was another burning topic discussed at the iFEST this year. Leaders in this area: BG Joseph McGee with U.S. Army, Gerald Leach with Department of Treasury, Arlyne "Reese" Madsen, SES, with DOD Intelligence and Paul Jesukiewicz with OPM's USALearning shared the challenges they are facing while developing the talent management models for their respective organizations. They all agreed that cultural barriers existing in each organization, such as "Fear of change" and cross-organizational barriers, are the ones preventing progress. Panelists unanimously stated that they need help with motivating the managers to take the advantage of this type of managing system: "We need to move beyond the cultural barriers." Madsen said, "80% solution is better than no solution." |