USDA launches AgLearn online training system

The Agriculture Department has launched the Agriculture Learning System to provide one-stop learning services for USDA employees nationwide. Agriculture employees can search for and sign up for classroom or online training and maintain training records through . Ultimately, AgLearn will provide automated employee request, approval and payment for courses. The program is available to about 7,000 employees at 12 USDA agencies in the initial release. They can access free online courses available on a governmentwide basis through the President’s GoLearn Initiative as well as courseware available for purchase through GoLearn. “AgLearn provides a common infrastructure for deploying and tracking USDA-specific courseware for use by employees, partners and customers,” Agriculture CIO Scott Charbo said. “USDA’s Office of Homeland Security has already made plans to deploy two courses on this common infrastructure and USDA’s annual civil rights training will be available on AgLearn.”Agriculture will add more employees and partners to AgLearn through the summer and plans to finish implementation by October. The system will also gain additional functions, including access to career-planning tools, a link to USDA Graduate School catalogs and integration with USDA’s eAuthentication service [see ].