Military

Officer Cadet Course (Service Term)

The Officer Cadet Course (OCC) Service Term lasts approximately 12 weeks and is the second term that an officer cadet will go through.  This term focuses on developing the necessary knowledge and skills to conduct Section-level operations.  Section tactics and drills are taught to Officer Cadets in the framework of attack and defence missions.  Towards the end of the term, Officer Cadets will learn Platoon-level operations, embarking on Platoon defence and attack missions to train as Platoon Commanders.

 

Why OCC (Service Term)

 

1.   Motivation.   The Officer Cadet in OCS are a group of highly motivated individuals.  Their strong desire to excel in everything allow them to challenge and motivate themselves to learn on.  The cadets will then find ease in identifying the relevancy of lessons to them.

2.    Higher Level of Thinking.  As the cadets will be commissioned officers in a few weeks, the level of thinking required of them is much higher (in accordance to the Bloom Taxonomy).  They will be required to apply, analyse or evaluate their platoon training and operation.

3.   Established Support Structure.  The OCC (Service Term) is supported by an established Higher HQ - Officer Cadet School.  The School has a dedicated team of experts who will review and design the curriculum and syllabus of OCC. 

 

 

Proposed Learning Activities

1.    Infantry Operations Planning.    

      a.   Intent.  The intent of this Infantry Operation Planning is to equip the cadets with the knowledge on infantry operation and also for them to formulate an operational plan.

 

       b.   Sequence of  Engagement -

 

Experience -  (1) Cadets will be split into group of four-five and (2) Cadets will be given time to study/ analyse principles of infantry operation. and (3) each group will prepare a simple operation plan based on their given scenario.

 

Sharing - (1) Provide time for each group to share their experience, challenges and learning.

 

Processing - (1) The cadets will be brought out to the field to have a better appreciation of the ground. (2) Cadets will re-examined their plan and reflect on why do they think their plan will work or not work.

 

Generalisation -  (1) Cadets will share what they had learnt and critics on each other plan.

 

Apply - (1) Application will be a field exercise whereby the cadets will execute their plan. .

 

         c.    Reflection Questions - (1) What do you think is the most important principles of defence and why?  (2)  How would you apply what you have learnt today in a different operating environment? (3)  What are some of the challenges that you foresee if you tasked to derived the ops plan with no ground appreciation and intelligence?

2.    Leadership and Values Package.   The Leadership & Values Package is typically a "discussion-based" activity.  The package last about 2 days but is broken down into segments.  Each segment will focus on different aspect of leadership or values. 

       a.   Intent.  The intent of this Leadership and Values Package is to allow the learners to better appreciate and the importance of leadership and the SAF Core Values.  The desired end state is for all learners to be able to apply these leadership principles and have an aligned value system.

 

       b.   Sequence of  Engagement -

 

Experience -  (1) Cadets will be split into group of three; (2) Each cadet will role play as an officer; or a trainee; or an observer; and (3) Each role player will be given a card to indicate his behaviour/ leadership style.

 

Sharing - (1) Provide time for each role player to share their experience.

 

Processing - (1) Allow the cadets to reflect on when did they felt that way and what would they do differently?  (2) Reflect on why certain people will still behave in the undesired manner?

 

Generalisation -  (1) Allow cadets to share a life experience that a commander had behaved in an undesired manner. (2) How did you feel at that point of time?

 

Apply - (1) Application will be after they commissioned or when they hold cadet appointment.

 

         c.    Reflection Questions - (1) What do you think is the most important leadership skills/ quality and why?  (2)  In your own words, what is the definition of officership? (3)  Why is SAF Core Values so important?

               

Strategies to Success

In order for the implementation of EL in OCC to be a success, there is a need to focus on two areas: (1) How to create better facilitation with EL Approach; and (2) How to design better learning activities.

As we embarked on the process to implement EL in OCC, Dean's Process Model of EL becomes more apparent.  This is so as the Dean's Process Model of EL actually focuses on the whole process, ranging from planning to follow up.  As such, the four strategies that we propose are taken in alignment to the Dean's Process Model of EL.

 

For Better Facilitation with EL Approach

 

Facilitation involves two parties (the facilitator and the students) and the relationship between them.  In order to improve the quality of facilitation, we will need to focus on the facilitator's ability and proficiency in facilitation.  In addition, there is also a need to implement measures to enhance the understanding between the facilitator and learners.  As such, the following are some strategies/ considerations:

 

a.   To equip all facilitator with some training course in facilitation.  This will help them better conduct the facilitation.  Each facilitator should pass an assessment by Higher HQ prior to them being allow to facilitate a discussion independently.

 

b.   The course size or the trainer: trainee ratio will need to be reviewed or changed during facilitation session.  The optimum number that a facilitator can effectively handles is about 25 pax.  In addition, facilitator shall have a snapshot of the class that he will be taking prior to the conduct of facilitation.

 

Design Better Learning Activities with EL Approach

While we focus on the facilitators to achieve better facilitation, we will need to examine the higher HQ for the design of better learning activities.  While it maybe ideal that the facilitators design their own activities, it is unlikely that they will be able to do so.  This is so as design a learning activities is different from conducting it.  As such the following are some of the implementation plan

 

a.   To equip the learners with the necessary resources (computer, laptop, manuals, documents, etc).  Without resources, the best facilitator will still not be able to achieve anything.  This is especially so in EL as the learners will need to experience doing the assigned tasks.

b.   While the Higher HQ (OCS) has a curriculum development branch, there maybe a need to have the expertise of instructional designers who are trained to design training based on the desired learning outcome.