HUNTSVILLE, Ala. -- The U.S. Army Engineering and Support Center, Huntsville Divisions’ Dr. Carolyn D. Harris received the Team Award Civilian Service Commendation Medal for outstanding performance and support while conducting the Army Green Belt Class 22-007.
Dr. Harris, Program Improvement Specialist for the Business Practices Division, Huntsville Center, was recognized for her dedication and outstanding leadership delivering quality virtual blended learning during the February and March 2022 Green Belt Class. Dr. Harris utilized several innovative methods to overcome network connectivity challenges while instructing 54 hours of content containing 36 modules and nearly 2600 slides.
Dr. Harris and her team applied several innovative methods using USACE MS Teams and Army Blackboard to ensure training success in a challenging virtual learning environment. Multiple channels were created in MS Teams to ensure standard slides, templates, tools, and participant guides were available pre-course.
To ensure student success, Dr. Harris and her fellow instructors hosted four two-hour Open Houses the week prior to the course starting to confirm students were familiar with Teams, could access Blackboard and aware of their responsibility to complete the pre-work.
Breakout Room channels were used for team exercises throughout the course and a Plus Delta Channel allowed students to provide immediate feedback to instructors for what was going working well and what needed improvement. The Blackboard platform-maintained quiz and exam security while providing an automated method for student learning to be assessed.
The team overcame frequent enterprise-wide and local network bandwidth and technical challenges by developing standard operating procedures before the course and ad hoc methods on the fly as unexpected challenges revealed themselves. “Fortunately, when we had challenges during the virtual training and certification course, we all jumped in an did what had to be done to ensure the students didn’t experience any down time and a delay in the curriculum,” said Dr. Harris.
As a result of Dr. Harris’ exemplary work, 30 students will be able to utilize Lean methods to streamline processes and improve their organization’s ability to finish quality projects, safely, on time, and within budget.