Ms. Krista Ehlert, USMC TECOM CCE-DPME, has been named CoTs Employee of the Quarter for the 3rd Quarter FY 2009. Over the last three months, Ms. Ehlert has been the lynchpin that has facilitated Expeditionary Warfare School Distance Education Program’s (EWSDEP) ability to deploy its Distance Education curriculum successfully on-line, via Blackboard, with a 1 July 2009 start date.

For the last 10 years, the content for the EWSDEP has always been available via hardcopy and most recently CDs. Because these medium require a two- year print cycle, vital updates and lessons learned were not incorporated into the curriculum as quickly as necessary. With Ms. Ehlert’s tremendous efforts the entire curriculum has been revised so that it can now be provided on-line worldwide. This will facilitate access to the materials and the ability to keep the entire curriculum current and relevant to the 80% of Marine Captains who complete their professional military education via the EWSDEP.

Over the last three months Ms. Ehlert has built the entire two-year, seven-course construct on Blackboard quite literally by herself. Ms. Ehlert’s expertise allowed her to set-up "skeleton sites" from which the EWSDEP team could decide on how best to organize the material on-line. She developed multiple sites for seminars, individual guided study, and faculty development for each of the seven courses. She also developed an on-line EWSDEP Faculty Tutorial with supporting reference materials that has received praise from all who have taken it.

The scope of this project should have required at least two people in order to meet the compressed timeline. However, Ms. Ehlert’s tireless efforts, working evenings and weekends, ensured the successful on-line transformation and completion of the EWSDEP.

Without Ms. Ehlert’s dedication and perseverance, the primary means for Marine Corps Captains to complete their professional military education would be a full academic year behind in migrating to an on-line capability. She is truly an irreplaceable member of the EWSDEP team.

Congratulations to Krista Ehlert on a terrific effort and a job well done!