• Main

• Training Policy Handbook

  • Site Map

  • Introduction

  • Summary of the Legal Foundation of Training

  • Legal Foundation for Training

  • Legal References by Subject Area

• Training Information

• Policy Guidance

• Publications

• Information Technology Exchange Program

  • Background

  • Program Highlights

  • General Requirements

  • Eligibility

  • Agency Plans

  • Termination of Details

  • Written Agreements

  • Assignments to Small Business Concerns

  • Agency Reporting Requirements to OPM

  • Other Reporting

  • Links

• Individual Learning Accounts

• HR Community Links

• Contact Us

• Help

Table of Contents

Report On The Establishment Of A Governmentwide Information Technology Training Program

 

Gov Online Learning Center (GoLearn)

Program Description

GoLearn.gov, a Governmentwide e-Training portal, is a result of the President's Management Agenda e-Gov Initiatives, specifically the e-Training Initiative, and is managed and maintained by the e-Training Initiative Team. GoLearn.gov is a virtual campus that houses free and for-fee e-Training courses and performance support tools for Federal agencies and employees. Among the many offerings, GoLearn.gov provides agencies with a consolidated approach to training and career development through web-based career management tools - currently through the IT Workforce Development Roadmap. The tools in GoLearn.gov will allow users to review competencies that OPM has identified for various career paths, assess their own competencies relative to these career paths, and identify appropriate training and development opportunities. As a result, agencies are able to generate career development plans that map to related training that is available in the Gov Online Learning Center and other training and development opportunities.

GoLearn.gov, which was launched in July 2002, is available across Government to all Federal employees regardless of grade. E-Training courses are available on a variety of subjects, such as legislatively mandated and agency required topics (e.g., Computer Security Awareness and Prevention of Sexual Harassment), Governmentwide, high-interest training topics (e.g., end-user computer training, supervisory and managerial training, homeland security), and IT courses. (See Appendix H for a sample of courses taken by individuals in the GS-2210, Information Technology Management occupational series.)

Costs

The e-Training Initiative is currently funded through a combination of appropriations and fees-for-service. The annual appropriated budget for the e-Training Initiative in FY03 and 04 was $2.5 million. Approximately $13 million was received in net revenues from fee-for-service in FY03 and approximately $32 million is anticipated for FY04.

In the fee-for-service arena, e-Training Initiative service provider uses a total cost of ownership model, and plans to be completely self-sustaining by the beginning of FY06. In addition, a Management Services Provider business model is used, which means that outsourcing is used whenever feasible.

IT Workforce Development Roadmap

On September 17, 2003, the IT Workforce Development Roadmap was launched on the GoLearn.gov site. The CIO Council's Workforce and Human Capital for IT Committee developed this web-based tool, which provides a strategic and expeditious way for agencies to develop their IT workforce. Over the past year the e-Training Initiative Team has collaborated with the CIO Council to provide this tool as a performance support tool hosted on the GoLearn.gov site and available Governmentwide. The IT Workforce Development Roadmap provides agencies and their employees in the IT profession with the ability to:

• Conduct competency assessments;
• Conduct skill gap analyses;
• Create individual development plans (IDPs);
• Create career progression plans;
• Identify and launch e-Training courses residing on GoLearn.gov to close gaps; and
• Map to other training and development opportunities.

Competency assessments and plans are organized around the ten parenthetical specialty titles in the GS-2210, Information Technology Management occupational series, which can be found in OPM's Job Family Position Classification Standard for Administrative Work in the Information Technology Group, GS-2200. The ten specialties within the GS-2210 occupational series are:

• Applications Software,
• Customer Support,
• Data Management,
• Internet,
• Network Services,
• Operating Systems,
• Policy and Planning,
• Security,
• Systems Administration, and
• Systems Analysis.

Each parenthetical specialty title is divided into four performance levels: Entry, Intermediate, Full Performance, and Senior Expert. Specific competency requirements are outlined for each performance level. Each competency in a performance level has a recommended proficiency level, ranging from basic to expert. The Federal CIO Council's Workforce and Human Capital for IT Committee worked with subject matter experts (SMEs) to identify the proficiency levels for the competencies. SMEs included public and private sector IT professionals.

To date, over 500 IT employees from approximately 27 agencies have conducted skill gap analyses and used e-Learning resources available on the Gov Online Learning Center. Registered users most frequently identified Project Management as a competency gap. The most common e-Learning topic requested by registered users was IT Security. Approximately 425 of the IT employees using the Roadmap have created individual development plans (IDPs). The average pre-test score for IT courses taken on the GoLearn.gov site is 87 percent correct and the average post-test score is 98 percent correct.

Continuing collaboration between OPM, the e-Training Initiative Team, the Federal CIO Council, and Federal agencies will focus the strategic direction for the Roadmap on current and emerging IT workforce development needs.

---

Table of Contents