NLV Data to the Department of Defense: A New Step in Data-Driven Learning
Together with the Ministry of Defense, Next Learning Valley is taking a new step in data-driven learning. To consolidate data from more than 350 simulators and learning environments within the Ministry of Defense, we are setting up an ecosystem of interconnected Learning Record Stores (LRSs) within the Ministry’s own IT infrastructure. Our data integration platform, NLV Data, collects and connects learning data from these diverse sources and makes it truly usable.
This is a special milestone for Next Learning Valley. Our collaboration with the Ministry of Defense—including projects such as AMALT and SHERRIE, as well as with various units within the organization, such as DGOTC—has been a key factor in the development of NLV Data.
Now, together, we’re taking the next step: from development and experimentation to concrete implementation within the organization.
From Insight to More Personalized and Smarter Learning
Training programs within the Ministry of Defense prepare people for their duties and responsibilities. In order to improve these programs in a targeted manner, it is necessary to understand how people learn, what challenges they face, and which components of a training program contribute to the desired outcome.
Learning data can help with this. By linking data from different learning environments, a more complete picture of the learning process emerges. This allows education professionals to, for example, investigate:
- Where do participants get stuck?
- In what situations can additional guidance be beneficial?
- Which aspects of a program can be improved?
- Which learning activities contribute to achieving learning objectives?
- Which of the following learning activities is best suited to an individual participant's development?
But for us, data-driven learning goes beyond mere insight and analysis. By using learning data in a smart way, we can also automate and personalize parts of the learning process.
Based on available data, learning activities can, for example, be offered in a more targeted manner, support can be tailored to a participant’s progress, and next steps can be determined automatically. This makes it possible to increasingly offer participants a learning path that aligns with their knowledge, performance, development, and learning needs.
Data thus not only helps professionals make better decisions, but can also directly contribute to a smarter and more personalized learning process.
For us , data-driven learning therefore does not start with the technology, but with the questions an organization wants to answer and the processes it wants to improve. Together with the Ministry of Defense, we determine which strategic and educational issues are key, what data is needed to address them, and where data can contribute to automating and personalizing learning.
An ecosystem of interconnected Learning Record Stores
To consolidate learning data from various systems, we are setting up an ecosystem of multiple interconnected Learning Record Stores within the Ministry of Defense.
An LRS stores data about learning activities. This includes, for example, data on participation, progress, results, and other activities that take place during the learning process.
The scope within which this could be relevant to the Department of Defense is vast. Across the Department of Defense, there are more than 350 simulators and learning environments. It is precisely in such an environment that it is important for learning data not to remain locked within separate systems, but to be collected and linked in a standardized manner.
NLV Data is a key component of this system. By enabling multiple LRSs to work together, learning data from various sources and environments can be used in a coordinated manner.
We use xAPI to exchange that data. This is an open standard that describes how systems can record and exchange information about learning activities. You can think of xAPI as a common language that allows different learning environments and systems to share data with one another.
Together with the Ministry of Defense, we determine which data are relevant, how they are exchanged, and how we can translate them into meaningful insights and actions. This not only creates a foundation for analysis and reporting, but also for the targeted automation of learning processes and the personalization of learning experiences.
An organization aligned with the Department of Defense
The LRS ecosystem is set up on-premises. This means that the solution is implemented within the Ministry of Defense’s own IT infrastructure.
Our internal requirements and guidelines regarding information security, data management, and access serve as the starting point for this. From the very beginning, we therefore take into account how data is stored, processed, exchanged, and made accessible.
This results in a facility that not only functions technically but also aligns with the Ministry of Defense’s infrastructure, security requirements, and training needs.
It is precisely in this project that Next Learning Valley’s various areas of expertise come together: learning, technology, data, and integration.
From Collaboration to Product Development
The collaboration with the Ministry of Defense has played an important role in the development of NLV Data.
Real-world training challenges, the diversity of learning environments, and data management requirements helped shape the solution further. The Ministry of Defense contributed in-depth knowledge of its own organization and training practices. Next Learning Valley combined that knowledge with expertise in the areas of learning, technology, and data.
That interaction is characteristic of the way we develop solutions at Next Learning Valley: not in isolation from real-world practice, but in collaboration with the organizations and professionals who will ultimately be using them.
The fact that NLV Data is now being implemented within the Ministry of Defense makes this step especially meaningful to us. A partnership that helped shape the product’s development is now leading to its implementation within the very organization where part of that development began.
Let's continue to build data-driven learning together
In the coming period, we will implement NLV Data and integrate the various Learning Record Stores within the ecosystem.
This creates a technical foundation for linking learning data from various sources in a standardized way and making increasingly effective use of it to address educational challenges.
But technology is ultimately just a tool. The real value comes when data helps us better understand what works in learning—and when those insights can be turned into action. By automating learning processes wherever possible and tailoring learning experiences more and more to each individual participant, learning can be organized in a more targeted, efficient, and personalized way.
This is how we move from collecting data, to gaining insights, to automating and personalizing the learning process.
For Next Learning Valley, this is therefore not only an important step in the continued development of NLV Data, but also in our ambition to help organizations derive greater value from their learning data.
We are proud of what our collaboration with the Ministry of Defense has achieved so far, and we look forward to continuing to work together to build data-driven, automated, and personalized learning.
From the Department of Defense to Your Organization
The Department of Defense is not the only organization facing these challenges. Many large companies, financial institutions, healthcare organizations, and government agencies are grappling with the same problem: fragmented systems and siloed learning data.
Our partnership with the Ministry of Defense demonstrates what NLV Data was built for: connecting learning data across complex, large-scale environments, even under strict compliance requirements and in a fully on-premises setup.
Make Your Learning Data Actionable
Do you want to get more out of the learning data within your organization? Together, we’ll explore what insights you need, what data is available to support those insights, and how NLV Data can connect existing learning, simulation, and information systems. This way, we’ll make learning data actionable to support better decisions and serve as the foundation for automating and personalizing learning.
