The title of your contribution is "Conflict and Learning". Does this field of tension require a dedicated form of learning?

Piotr Gawliczek: Let me start by saying that the notion "Conflict and Learning" should be perceived in a very broad context, especially from the perspectives of the new nature of the security environment. To me, this environment has changed rapidly from the beginning of the nineties and even more dramatically over the course of the last ten years. We are facing brand new challenges, and it is not even possible to identify and name all of them.


Our picture of the security environment is blurred, unclear, and foggy, which gives the education and training process special importance in helping to successfully cope with this situation because training and developing new skills is extremely important. From the perspective of the National Defence University, Warsaw (NDU), there are military and civilian students to be taken into account as far as the adequate forms of learning and training are concerned.

Referring to the second part of the question, I would say "yes" - dedicated, innovative and creative forms of learning are not only required but actually constitute the difference between success and failure. Without them, from the educational point of view, it will not be possible to address the requirements stemming from the new realm of conflicts.

What are the main factors that need to be taken into account?

Piotr Gawliczek: Of importance are the ICT tools, of course, but to me a new approach is also needed. As far as the NDU Warsaw is concerned, we are trying to switch from the principle of "what to think" towards "how to think". When the situation is unclear, decisions of strategic importance are being reached by individuals meeting various obstacles and facing different dilemmas. As I said, like the nature of the challenges, the risks and threats have also changed - which means the opportunities for an effective response have changed as well.

The NDU Warsaw education and training process is supported by the new technologies and innovative systems. There's an Advanced Distributed Learning (ADL) team directly involved in the planning, training, and exercising. We have managed to create many opportunities for raising eLearning awareness not only within the NDU but also within the Polish Armed Forces in general. This means that we can finally ensure that the key actors of the conflict area, especially military people, can be effectively prepared for the challenge of the new security environment, and particularly its cultural-awareness dimension.

Which role does ICT play in this scenario?

Piotr Gawliczek: The aim of the ADL endeavors is to focus on technology-assisted training and learning, not only for students and course members of the NDU, but for our partners from the military and civilian sectors: security, defence, emergency services, and NGOs. Disposing of a powerful system - the ILIAS LMS - and being able to use all its advantages, we can offer more than one hundred ADL courses to be taken from this platform. We are authorized to certify all of them, so it means that the certificate of completion has special meaning from the procedural point of view.

Moreover, we can provide a wide spectrum of products to be used by the faculty of the NDU and by our partners. We focus on the interaction between the people involved in the various types of activities because it gives us the possibility to develop new ideas. ICT is an important and growing tool for the trainers. We are trying to be proactive, which is why we also focus on mobile learning and ADL-Mobile activities as the new means of delivering the knowledge.

Have your learners had any experiences you could share with our audience?

Piotr Gawliczek: We are not "consumers" of the tools and products created by the others. NDU Warsaw is responsible for the Polish interface of the ILIAS LMS, and we develop in-house courses and provide other eLearning products. Let me stress that our latest product is dedicated to more than 3,000 civilian students of the NDU Warsaw in the first academic year. They are obliged to take an introductory course consisting of four modules: safety at the working place, first-aid procedures, fire-safety procedures, and a library lesson.

Instead of occupying many rooms and involving teachers, we do it online. There's a time slot of one month open on the ILIAS LMS, and it is up to the student to choose the moment and to spend about one hour to take this course, which also comprises tests and an evaluation form to get feedback.

The second experience I would like to share is the importance of international cooperation. Thanks to our participation at the NTG WG IT&ED, ADL WG of the PfP Consortium meetings and various conferences, workshops under the umbrella of ACT, JFC, and individual countries, we were able find shortcuts as far as procedures and time are concerned.

NDU Warsaw can be seen as an excellent example of how to develop efficient ADL activities within one year and to do it "on the cheap". After having visited many foreign military academies, I realized that the main factor while aiming at the innovative approach is motivation and a strong will to implement eLearning principles. If there's a will there's a way - this is my response to the question of how to be efficient. It takes dedication, passion, and efforts, but it gives us great satisfaction that the NDU Warsaw is being mentioned on various occasions as the perfect example to follow as far as eLearning solutions are concerned.