DAU Courses

DAU Courses 

After reviewing all your options (Skillport, eArmyU, SOC) you have decided for the DAU courses, this is a series of easy guides to help youGetting started on DAU Courses. 

First things first, are you eligible for the DAU Courses?

As long as you have a current affiliation with the United States government, you qualify to participate in training offered by DAU. The military Services and DoD non-MILDEP agencies, through their Defense Acquisition Career Management (DACM) offices, have quotas in our classes. The DACMs establish priorities for their own military and civilian members, depending on several factors (e.g., if the student is in an acquisition-coded billet and their position requirements). The DACMs register their own members; the Federal Acquisition Institute (FAI) registers most non-DoD students.

Non-DoD federal agency and defense industry employees (contractors) may attend DAU courses at no cost on a space-available basis. There are some non-DoD and defense industry quotas in DAU courses; however, designated quotas are not in every class at every location. Non-DoD applicants should understand that DoD and MILDEP employees have precedence over all non-DoD federal agency and defense industry employees (the only exception is when there are specific quotas for these categories). This is particularly important in the case where a federal agency or defense industry employee is placed on a wait list , because all DoD and MILDEP employees are assigned a higher priority on the waitlist, even when they are added after the non-DoD and defense industry have been assigned a wait status.

As you can see basically everyone is eligible for the DAU Courses, whether you work with a DoD agency or not, but all DoD personnel have priority over non DoD personnel.

By now you must be wondering, how much does the DAU Courses will set me back?, are they expensive?

You can relax, as for now DAU does not charge tuition for its courses, except for certain foreign students. Foreign personnel, DOT-related agencies, industry, and non-DoD federal employees fund their own members’ travel and per diem costs. For military and civilian employees, your Service’s Defense Acquisition Career Management (DACM) office will determine whether they or your command will fund your travel as part of the application process.

Application Process for the DAU Courses

“Travel as part of the application process”, this generates the question: How’s the application process?, Where do i need to go to register for the DAU Courses?
First you must now that the instructions vary slightly for each branch, select the one that corresponds to your affiliation to receive further instructions on how to apply to the DAU Courses:

• Army (Military/Civilian)
• Navy/USMC (Military/Civilian)
• Air Force (Military/Civilian)
• Employee of a DoD Civilian Agency (i.e. DCMA, DISA, NSA, etc.)
• Employee of a non-DoD Federal Agency (i.e. DHS, HHS, VA, USCG etc.)
• Contractor/Industry/International Employee (Private-sector employees working on a contract with a DoD component must follow these procedures)

DAU Locations

DAU operates five regional campuses and numerous regional training centers to provide training services to the more than 151,000 members of the Defense Acquisition Workforce. DAU facilities are furnished with state-of-the-art equipment to enhance the learning experience and accommodate your learning needs.

Additionally, housing, dining facilities, libraries, fitness facilities, and medical facilities are available at each location. Upon registration, you will receive information about these and other services.

For current operational status of DAU regional campuses and training centers, please call 1-800-845-7606, Option 1.

• Capital and Northeast Region DAU courses locations

  • Ft. Belvoir, VA
  • Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD

• College of Contract Management

• DSMC- Defense Systems Management College

• Mid-Atlantic Region DAU Courses locations

  • California, MD
  • Chester, VA
  • Kaiserslautern, Germany
  • Norfolk, VA

• Midwest Region DAU Courses locations

  • Kettering, OH
  • Columbus, OH
  • Rock Island, IL
  • Sterling Heights, MI

• South Region DAU Courses locations

  • Huntsville, AL
  • Eglin AFB – Eglin, FL
  • Warner Robins, GA

• West Region DAU Courses locations

   
  • San Diego, CA
  • Port Hueneme, CA
  • Los Angeles, CA
  • Ford Island, HI

On the next Getting started on DAU Courses we’ll tackle all the courses and how to choose the right one also an easy guide for troubleshooting on the course navigation and application pages.

Registering on the ARMY Skillport 

One of the many advantages of theSkillport program is its availability, as is a completely online based program, and that means there is none of the classic burocratic long boring paperwork filled registering process, everything is done online. As we’ve mentioned before all you need to start is an active AKO account , but what’s next? Easy, now you’re just a couple of clicks away of starting your new career.

Just follo the easy steps at http://army-e-learning.net/how-to-register/ 

Advantages on the Army Skillport Program 

Wide range of course topics

Different areas are covered by the courses, from IT (desktop skill, internet skills, SAP business, Adobe Photoshop CS5, Adobe Dreamweaver…), business (business law, administrative support, customer service, marketing…) and personal development (leadership, time management, communication skills…), with over 5.000 courses online we are sure that there’s something in there for you.

Highly developed software

Easy and intuitive interface, facilities for access and developing both simple and multi module course, that’s the base in which the Skillport program is build upon. The Skillsoft base gives this program a fantastic foundation so you basically just need a pc/laptop, a decent internet connection and join the army of course.

No arrested development

New courses are added and full programs are improved and updated constantly, keeping them in check with modern needs. No outdated versions to be found.

Cheap

registering and all material required it’s completely free of charge and available from any desktop with an internet connection to all Active Army, Army National Guard, Army Reservist/IRR, Army ROTC (MS III & IV) Cadet and Department of Army civilians with an AKO account.

Full freedom

The courses you take depend on you and you alone, amount and the completion. You can take as many or as little as you wish, as is only limited by you, your schedule, your availability and your desire to learn. You can also take as long as you want and need, although there are a few situations where completion has a set timeframe.

Constant evaluation

All courses are divided in lessons and each one is evaluated at the end,  the tests can be taken as many times as you need to pass, keeping in mind that 70% is the minimum score required to approve each lesson and thus obtaining the certificate of completion.

Support

Don’t worry you are not alone in this program, mentoring trough live chats, discussion groups, and email are there for you completely free of charge. You can get answers and support 24/7 from technical advisors and peers, so there’s really no excuse.

Rewards

What’s in it for you? Besides knowledge and growth there are also, promotion points, college credits and retirement points (for the Army Reserve). Soldiers receive 1 promotion point for every 5 hours of training, and this takes from 3-5 days for completion to be recorded on ATRRS, some courses are recorded quicker (Correspondence courses) with only 48 hours between completion and record. Retirement points for reservist are given 1 for every 3 hours of training but this are not recorded automatically you must submit a copy of your ATRRS transcript. College credits are also available for up to 40 courses that have been recommended by ACE for such, however is up to the college or university itself whether they will accept the other courses.