Skip to main content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Partners Overview

The ADL Initiative originated as a DoD-wide program, and Defense personnel have been–and remain–its core constituents. However, with the policy documents published in the late 1990s, the ADL Initiative received direction to also serve the entire Federal workforce as well as global partners, industry, and academia. The ADL Initiative's stakeholders include the DoD and associated Federal security sector (e.g., DHS, FLETC), other Federal agencies (e.g., DoEd, DoE, TSA), and coalition defense partners (e.g., NATO, TTCP, partner nations). Further, as scientists, engineers, and specification developers, we also engage the scholarly research community, and distributed learning industry.

The Defense ADL Advisory Committee (DADLAC) acts as an advisory body to support distributed learning policy stewardship, resource and information exchange, and monitoring of emerging distributed learning technologies and techniques across the DoD. The DADLAC provides advice to the DoD distributed learning community with respect to the policies and procedures included in the issuance of DoDI 1322.26, and it helps the DoD distributed learning community adapt to evolving learning science and technical changes in distributed learning environments.

The ADL Initiative provides distributed learning modernization support to more than 15 international and Coalition partners (e.g., NATO, The Technical Cooperation Program, Partnership for Peace Consortium), and other federal agencies (e.g., National Park Service, Customs and Border Protection). Additionally, the ADL Initiative actively participates in the Partnership Network which features government and academic organizations that work together to improve distributed learning.

Community collaboration and support is an important facet of the ADL Initiative. We collaborate or support the following government communities:

  • US Defense Distance Education Coordination Committee (DECC)—The DECC is a formal working group chartered under the Officer Professional Military Education Policy (OPMEP). The DECC comprises distributed learning directors from across the Joint PME schoolhouses. DECC members also participate in DADLAC meetings, and the DECC and DADLAC recently agreed to host at least one joint meeting annually. The DECC exists as an ongoing forum to promote best practices, exchange courseware, and provide and exchange information regarding technical and non-technical issues in distributed learning in order to encourage collaboration, joint enterprise, and leverage membership successes.

  • US Defense Human Systems Community of Interest (HS COI)—The HS COI is one of 17 COIs in the Office of the Secretary of Defense created to coordinate key decisions between DoD and the science and technology communities. The COI's mission is to enhance mission effectiveness through integrated simulations for mission training and experimentation, human-machine designs for mission effectiveness, assessment of operator effectiveness, operating through battlespace stresses, and mastering the PMESII battle space.

  • Coalition partners: NORDEFCO ADL—The five-nation NOrdic DEFence COoperation (NORDEFCO; including Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden) considers advanced distributed learning a critical enabler. One of NORDEFCO's main Cooperation Areas is "Training and Exercise" (COPA TEX), and its aim is to "continuously identify possibilities to coordinate and harmonize military training activities among the Nordic nations in order to enhance competence and skills" (NORDEFCO, 2014, p. 7). To support this objective, the nations have established the NORDEFCO ADL forum of experts and hold an annual NORDEFCO ADL Conference.

  • Coalition partners: Regional ADL Initiative — Similar to NORDEFCO ADL, the Southeastern Europe RADLI comprises Serbia (chair), Slovenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and North Macedonia. The Southeastern Europe RADLI project is supported by the Norwegian Ministry of Defense and seeks to develop a regional approach to elevate the ADL Initiative capabilities of the Western Balkan region with professional networking, standards, technical skills, and collaborative innovation. The RADLI initiative is modeled upon the ADL Global Partner Network. Serbia ADL Center has the leading role as Chair of the Project Working Group and member of the Project Steering Committee. The other members include: MOD of Slovenia, MOD of Bosnia and Herzegovina, MOD of North Macedonia with each of their respective ADL Initiative offices or aspiring ADL Initiative offices. In addition to in-person meetings, RADLI supports a distance learning platform where they share courses and collaborate. Information is available at the RADLI Website.