Ready, Relevant Learning is the future of formalized Navy instruction. Those changes are currently ongoing at the learning sites on Naval Station Great Lakes and were on display as Vice Adm. Herman A. Shelanski toured the area, March 25.

Both the Surface Warfare Officers School Unit and Center for Surface Combat Systems Unit Great Lakes learning sites are in various stages of updating the curriculum to meet the requirements of ready, relevant learning.

Lt. Cmdr. Preston Marshall, executive officer of SWOSU Great Lakes, and Cmdr. Gregory Ludwig, commanding officer of CSCSU Great Lakes, spoke to Shelanski about the progress each learning site has made to meet the ready, relevant learning mandate.

According to Marshall, when the restoration in engineering training began in 2010, course revisions were part of that process. He said the changes spurred are in line with the tenants of Ready, Relevant Learning.

"The analysis helps us make sure that we've been on the right path; that we've been identifying the right level to train Sailors," Marshall said. "In this case, what the RRL piece does is allow us [to] validate what we've already done and continue to fine tune where there potentially are other spots where we could add training value later in a Sailor's career."

Progress on Ready, Relevant Learning for CSCSU is still in the early stages for the 18 courses of instruction offered there.

"We are right now in the initial stages of Ready, Relevant Learning, but it's going to take some time, effort and money," Ludwig said. "During his visit we showed Adm. Shelanski what our plan is and how we're going to move forward."

Shelanski was shown a variety of classrooms and labs for both SWOSU and CSCSU. While at SWOSU he toured the Basic Engineering Common Core classrooms and labs, the LPD 17 virtual task trainer, Damage Controlman 'A' School virtual task trainer and the Engineman 'C' School virtual task trainer and front panel simulator.

"We're just one small piece of the puzzle," Marshall said. "We have gone through some of the first stages of block learning and we showed him what we do and what we're doing so far and what our small piece of the puzzle is."

While at CSCSU, Shelanski toured Gunner's Mate 'A' School's Fire Arms Training Simulator, Electronics Technician/Fire Controlman 'A' school T1 RADAR partial task trainer, and Boatswain's Mate 'A' School. His visit concluded at the Operations Specialist 'A' School Ship's Self Defense System lab.

"These labs are those tangible results of how we're proceeding," Ludwig said. "You can see the technology in the enhanced trainers that we're trying to do for our new accessions Sailors."

For more news from Training Support Center, Great Lakes, visit http://www.navy.mil/.