TEC University Fact Sheet

Photo By Master Sgt. Timothy Kinnan | TEC University graphic layout/design (U.S. Air National Guard illustration)  

LOUISVILLE, TN, UNITED STATES

06.22.2020

Story by Master Sgt. Mike Smith  

I.G. Brown Training and Education Center

TEC University is a division of the I.G. Brown Training and Education Center located at McGhee Tyson Air National Guard Base near Knoxville, Tenn. The division helps build the Air National Guard's future leaders using forward-learning training and education solutions for Airmen in upgrade training or looking for professional and personal growth opportunities. Whether online or in a traditional classroom environment, TEC-U meets the needs of 21st Century Airmen with innovative solutions and the most up-to-date technology.

MISSION AND VISION
Our Mission: Produce and deliver training and educational content to enhance readiness and develop exceptional leaders.
Our Vision: Provide a diverse training and education solution to the Total Force.

PERSONNEL AND RESOURCES
TEC University comprises 16 full-time personnel, including nine Airmen assigned from the Air National Guard and one Airman assigned from the regular Air Force and six civil-service federal civilians. TEC-U manages the Air National Guard's Warrior Network through the Air National Guard's only Tier-2 U.S. Air Force broadcasting center and a mobile broadcasting studio. It maintains state-of-art production equipment and systems. As part of the larger TEC, the division accesses a 260-seat auditorium and a modern, mixed-use classroom and dormitory facility for courses, workshops, and conferences. This facility includes six 31-person classrooms and two 148-person combined classrooms, dividable into three smaller sections. These classrooms provide wireless microphones, flat-screen televisions, whiteboards, sound systems, and campus WiFi, among other technology.

ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCURE
TEC University is organized into three branches, with offices, production, and television studios located in Spruance Hall on the TEC campus.

The Instructional Development Branch is accredited with the Community College of the Air Force, listed as the I.G. Brown School. The branch's skill-enhancement training includes training certificate courses, advanced services courses, instructor certification, public affairs courses, and more. Assigned experts identify if training is educationally sound, is the best method, and reaches the level of learning needed. They audit courses for training gaps and transform briefings into lessons with student participation and evaluation, and CCAF accreditation for some training can be achieved. The Instructional Development Branch works with other TEC-U branches to develop engaging and innovative training solutions for advanced distributive leaning. It provides information transport capabilities for mass communication and distance learning via the Warrior Network.

The Production Branch is managed by award-winning broadcasting, video, and graphic experts who work with Instructional Development and Transmission branches to convert data, ideas, requirements, and graphics into professional multimedia products.

The Transmission Branch maintains the Air National Guard broadcast studios and campus audiovisual equipment, housed and operated on campus. Live broadcasts for virtual conferences, workshops, and functional meetings reduce travel expenses while providing relevant, timely content. Broadcast capabilities are crucial support to the larger TEC, on/off-campus, to include live/time-delay broadcast of courses and workshops, enabling maximum exposure at minimum cost.

LINES OF EFFORT
The Instructional Development, Production, and Transmission Branches work as one division toward four lines of effort:

Leadership Academy (Train the Trainers, Leadership Schools, Instructor Certification)

Building the Blue (Learning Management Systems, 3-/5-/7-level Upgrade Training, Personal Development)

From the Force (Just-in-time Training, Micro-learning (5 minutes or less) 15-minute Crowdsource Videos, Enhancing/Encouraging Innovation, Live Broadcast Training)

Innovation in Education (Educator's Think Tank, Designing Learning for the Future, Developing Training Technologies)

HISTORY
Initially called the Professional Military Education Center, the I.G. Brown Training and Education Center offered recruiting and retention courses as professional continuing education through the 70s and 80s. It expanded into other subjects. The established Professional Continuing Education Division offered 72 annual classes by 1989 in 26 different disciplines, to include a computer training center. TEC University's main building, Spruance Hall, opened in 1992 as a library and multimedia building. The Director of the Air Guard cut the ribbon for the Warrior Network transmitter there on March 23, 1995, which began distance learning delivered via satellite. The broadcast studios now occupy the library space. Transmission personnel produced their first live, remote broadcast from Orlando in November 1997. The center's first computer-based training course developed on campus in 1996. Early CBTs supported ancillary training for the Air National Guard. The Professional Continuing Division renamed itself TEC University in November 2019 to identify a new learning approach that broadens offerings and innovates education methods for skills and knowledge.

(Last updated June 22, 2020)

• Date Taken: 06.22.2020
• Date Posted: 06.22.2020 14:47
• Story ID: 372594
• Location: LOUISVILLE, TN, US