CAP NHQ overhauled and replaced the prior Senior Member Professional Development program (Level I - Level V) with a new Education & Training program curriculum. The old SLS, CLC, RSC, and NSC in-person weekend and week-long courses no longer exist. Required training for Levels I-V is now either remote or in-person courses given by NHQ-approved instructors using NHQ material.

The first time through, navigating the new offerings can seem complicated and the information from NHQ not overly helpful. Use the summary info and tips below to make your first foray more successful and less confusing.

Overview

The E&T webpage on the National website is your starting point for all E&T training.

• Each E&T Level has a page discussing requirements and links to training material.
• Each E&T Level training course is broken into modules.
  • Prior completion of certain CAP cadet ranks and US military PME (professional military education) can count for some modules. See the "Senior Member Education and Training Program Module Summaries" link on the E&T homepage for equivalencies. (Note: That document does not provide a summary of the training modules...)

Completion of modules is tracked in eServices. Go to Professional Development (yes...) > Professional Levels to see the full list of requirements for your current level and which are completed.

There are three routes to completing E&T training: Virtual In-Residence (ViR), Volunteer University (cohorts), and in-person local instruction. Each of the online NHQ options has a page under the E&T main webpage. In-person instruction can be provided by any instructor approved by NHQ for that E&T Level. Whoever teaches the module approves its completion in eServices.

Virtual In-Residence (ViR)

This option is ideal for completing modules as you have time over the span of your time in service at your current E&T Level.

The ViR program presents the topics in each E&T Level training course as a set of individual live online classes. Modules for Levels II through IV are presented semi-regularly. Expect completion of all modules to take months, with zero to two classes per week. The online portion of each class is typically 1-2 hours long.

You must register for classes online and are self-directed in downloading and reading student material, completing any pre-class work, attending the online class, and completing any post-class work.

Navigating the course offerings and registration is not entirely clear. Here are tips for making sense of the program.

Find upcoming classes

View the ViR calendar from the ViR webpage.

Click the "+ Google Calendar" button at the bottom right to add it to your set of "subscribed" calendars in your WAWG Google account.

In your calendars view at https://calendar.google.com, click the search button (magnifying glass icon) at upper right and search for your level - e.g., "level 3".

This will display only those calendar entries, across all your calendars, that contain that search term. As a bonus, the times listed will be in your local time. (All ViR calendar listings are created in eastern time.)

Register for classes

On the ViR webpage, click the Level X Registration link for the E&T Level you are training for.

This will show a form listing general requirements you are committing to, asks for any equivalent CAP or military education courses you have completed, and lists all upcoming classes for your level.

Select as few or many as you wish. You can register for more modules another time.

• If you apply to a course noted as WAITLIST you will need to keep an eye on the Waitlist page on the ViR student dashboard.
• You must receive an e-mail with your confirmed module registration to be listed with the instructor as a valid student. If you do not receive an e-mail soon after registering, give it a little time, check your spam folder, then try the "general inquiries" link on the ViR main page.

You will then be shown a link to the ViR student dashboard, which contains similar info as on the E&T webpages, including:

• student material download links (also on the Level I-V webpages on the National E&T page),
• links to join individual module online meetings, and
• a module withdrawal form.

Note that you must add your registered modules to your own calendar and keep (wherever works for you) the link to the student dashboard.

Volunteer University (cohorts)

See the VolU webpage. This option is designed to complete an E&T Level training course in a shorter time by being more focused than a-la-carte ViR modules.

VolU cohorts are modeled after university online part-time education. A group of students is organized and begins the entire E&T Level course together. From the "How Cohorts Work" document on the VolU webpage, cohorts are 10-25 students and organized monthly.

In theory, this is a great option if you have the time to do "night school." In practice, many people have found that too many students do not participate sufficiently to allow everyone to complete the requirements for minimum interaction on the discussion boards. Some students only need some modules, participate in those, and skip out on the rest they have already completed another way.

Our local experience so far is to recommend ViR over VolU. Your mileage may vary.

Local In-Person

Watch for announcements to the WAWG Announce mailing list or the WAWG calendar for upcoming courses.

Inquire at your squadron or with group about the availability of approved instructors for various E&T Levels. A module might be delivered at a unit meeting, or one or more might be taught on a weekend.