Making distance-learning work at the Veterans Benefits Administration

Abstract

Discusses the remarkable results of a third-party evaluation of a satellite training course in writing for the Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA). In the evaluation, 68 letters were evaluated along 15 criteria, with the median number of criteria before training being 10 and post-training being 14. We argue that the key elements that contributed to the training's enduring success were: (1) our commitment to embedding the course in the culture and realities of VBA; (2) our insistance that we collect data for evaluation, whether or not they were to be used immediately; (3) our use of one-way video and two-way audio technology to advantage; and (4) not merely reiterating the rules of writing within the course, but rather emphasizing the cognitive processes behind good writing and the principles of decision-making.