Wing Education and Training Office material available on Air Force Knowledge Now

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Steve Lewis
  • 512th Airlift Wing Public Affairs
DOVER AIR FORCE BASE, Del. --  The 512th Airlift Wing Training and Education office has recently joined other units Air Force-wide in providing a way for wing members to obtain education and training information accessible through the Air Force Portal. 

Documents normally found on the wing's network drive, like official transcript requests, seasoning training programs and kicker fact sheets are now available via a work space known as a Community of Practice. 

"It can be difficult to access documents on the share drive, and we only have a small window of time to do it during a UTA weekend," Senior Master Sgt. Randall Anderson, 512th Training and Education office chief. "Our new CoP allows reservists a better opportunity to do more research, and they have live, instant access to this information 24 hours a day, seven days a week." 

CoPs are websites that allow individuals to share information or common practices, develop skills or solve problems. Thousands of CoPs have been developed and are organized online through Air Force Knowledge Now on the Air Force Portal. Some CoPs are open to all AFKN users, while others are restricted and may require a user login. These sites can be accessed from any government computer or at home with a Common Access Card reader. For more information on the Education and Training CoP, call 302-677-3517.

This isn't the first time the wing has used a CoP. 

"We started heavily advertising CoPs right before the last Operational Readiness Inspection," said Tech Sgt. Anthony Harris, 512th Mission Support Squadron.
Sergeant Harris said during the ORI at the Combat Readiness Training Center in Alpena, Mich., both the 512th AW and the 436th AW used a CoP to relay information about things like alarm conditions and operations plans. 

"There wasn't a share drive available at the training site so this was one of the primary means to communicate with each other," he said. 

Sergeant Harris has been organizing training for squadrons wishing to create their own CoPs on AFKN. He said training on how develop a CoP can be set up by contacting him at 302-677-3537. 

"I'd like to see every unit in the 512th (AW) to eventually have their own CoP," said Sergeant Harris. "Using a CoP is the way ahead and people will start to like it after a while."