DANTES Sponsored Webinars

By: Emily Bechmann DANTES provides regular hosted and Service-supported webinars to the VolEd Workforce and facilitates webinars provided by DoD Education Partners. Webinars enhance professional development for the VolEd Workforce by increasing program awareness of the DANTES Education Programs and other DoD Education Resources, such as EBSCO Learning Libraries. An additional line of effort includes the DANTES Counselor Support Network, a forum facilitated to share information, discuss best practices, and collaborate among peers. Training delivery has been incorporated using platforms such as Microsoft Teams and Zoom for Government. The use of these platforms has allowed DANTES an opportunity to better meet the needs of our customers, reduce travel costs for in-person training, broadly connect with those in different time zones, and build upon our YouTube Channel with recorded webinars and other promotional videos for customers to reference when convenient for them.

All DANTES-hosted webinars are recorded and available for viewing via the DANTES YouTube Channel at www.youtube.com/c/DoDDANTES/.

Click picture below to see video!

Download the MilEd Benefits mobile app today to learn about military education benefits for U.S. Armed Forces service members. Service members can maximize the use of their military education resources by learning about Defense Department, Department of Veterans Affairs, Military Services, and DANTES sponsored education programs - anytime, anywhere. With simple-to-use eGuides and a user-friendly design, the MilEd Benefits app provides a one-stop shop to find no-cost education benefits that can help members with military advancement, completing a college degree, and transitioning to civilian employment after serving. MilEd Benefits provides a host of resources and updated voluntary education information including: • An easy to read online format with information on DoD voluntary education programs and other education resources. • Military Services' Education Program Information to support the Services' Voluntary Education (VolEd) communities and individual service members by focusing on specific Service education/ career planning resources. • DANTES Sponsored Education Program Information to support a member's pursuit of their educational and career goals. • Tools for Professional Education Counselors designed to help the Services' Voluntary Education (VolEd) community of professionals assist military students with their educational journey;

VolEd Counselors, contact dantes_outreach@ us.navy.mil for the access code. • News and Updates, Downloadable Flyers, Videos, and Encouragement. MilEd Benefits Mobile App – Available on the Apple Store or Google Play!

DANTES supports external engagements through in-person and virtual speaker requests, exhibitor booth coordination, and education fairs. • Speaker Requests include in-person and virtual presentations between 15 to 60-minutes in length, highlighting DANTES Sponsored Education programs and services. • Exhibit Support – DANTES hosts exhibit booths at conferences and symposiums, to share information and promote program awareness. • Education Fairs include in-person/virtual attendance, with speaker and exhibitor support. For more info or to submit a request, don’t hesitate to get in touch with the DANTES Outreach Coordinator, Emily Bachman at dantes_outreach@ us.navy.mil.

DoD VolEd programs can help you get promoted, complete your college degree, and successfully transition to civilian employment after serving. DANTES provides service members and the Services’ Voluntary Education (VolEd) communities with no-cost education and career planning resources.

3 EASY WAYS TO CONNECT:

By: Erin Roberts Your DANTES Voluntary Education Enterprise Support (VES) Team is comprised of five individuals committed to supporting the Defense Department’s (DoD) VolEd community. We work together to coordinate with Service education professionals to build program awareness and to help ensure that all of our nation’s actively-serving service members, including the Military Services, National Guard, Reserve Components and the U.S. Coast Guard, know about the education benefits available to them at no cost. We do this through several avenues of outreach, to include DANTES website management, our 24/7 customer inquiry response tool, the monthly DIB newsletter, monthly program webinars, and five social media platforms. In this article, we are going to focus on how these platforms can enhance communication and help to build program awareness.

DANTES uses the following social media platforms and we encourage the DoD VolEd community of professionals to follow us, share, and use our messaging and graphics to help make your job easier. After all, our audience is your audience… we are all here to encourage and help our service members pursue and complete their education and career goals!

DANTES has a social media (SM) presence on the following platforms and each year we see continued growth. That growth shows that these platforms do help to spread awareness of DANTES sponsored education programs with service members and their families: • Facebook https://www.facebook.com/DANTES.DoD • Instagram https://www.instagram.com/dantes_dod/ • Twitter https://twitter.com/DANTES_DOD • Linked In https://www.linkedin.com/company/10843412/ • YouTube https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCAD8yGhGBeDAtIPMW7Eu-sA

Information shared on our SM includes program information and updates, service member testimonials, education quotes to inspire, and more. We continually share information on Service education websites and webpages to increase overall knowledge and awareness of the importance that the pursuit of an education can offer to service members and their families.

We know that SM is used by service members to gather information about our programs because the number of our followers remains consistent; and on most platforms, we see continued growth. According to the Pew Research Center, You Tube and Facebook are ranked as the most popular platforms, “When Pew Research Center began tracking social media adoption in 2005, just 5% of American adults used at least one of these platforms. By 2011 that share had risen to half of all Americans, and today 72% of the public uses some type of social media.”

The Pew Research Center, https://www.pewresearch.org/, offers many other interesting statistics on the use of social media by Americans: • Facebook is used by 69% of Americans. • YouTube is used by 81% of Americans. • Twitter is by far the most common social media site U.S. journalists use for their jobs, but the public most often turns to Facebook for news. • Young adults are the most likely group to say they use Instagram. Around seven-in-ten Americans ages 18 to 29 (71%) say they use Instagram. • About six-in-ten U.S. adults who use Instagram (59%) say they do so at least once a day. • Among younger users, the share is larger: 73% of 18- to 29-year-old Instagram users say they visit the site every day, with roughly half (53%) reporting they do so several times per day. • 70% of adult Facebook users say they use the platform at least once a day, according to the 2021 survey findings. • Those with higher levels of education are more likely than those with lower levels of educational attainment to report being LinkedIn users. Roughly half of adults who have a bachelor’s or advanced degree (51%) say they use LinkedIn, compared with smaller shares of those with some college experience (28%) and those with a high school diploma or less (10%).

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With regards to the use of SM, we hope that all Service education professionals will take the time to visit our SM platforms regularly and share our content. You can visit our website and find all of the SM platforms in one location, https://www.dantes.doded.mil/Resources/Connect.html