(UNTITLED)

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP78-05795A000400030012-7
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 5
• Document Creation Date: December 9, 2016
• Document Release Date: March 20, 2001
• Sequence Number: 12
• Content Type: SUMMARY

SECRET
' Apprpved?For Releaj2001/04/09: CIA-RDP78-05795A0004iQO030012-7
Comments on shortcomings of the Fourth running of the COS Seminar,
and recommendations for changes in content and method.
My main criticism of the course was that I did not crystallize in
advance in my own mind the concrete learning units which went to make up the
course, and that I failed to summarize the lesson at the end of each unit.
Also, I have now reviewed OTR texts on teaching methods, specifically "Guidelines
for Effective Teaching" (OTR-Pl-61 of Jan 61), and have arrived at a clearer
(to me) conceptual approach to the problem of teaching skills to our COS-
Designates.
Before proceeding to outline how I think the next course should be
presented, I would like to set down my understanding of the relevant
terminology, so that we can all be talking the same language.
a. The function of any OTR course is to teach something;
b. Learning can take place in various ways, some of which
are as follows:
(1) By reading prepared texts. In this case the teacher
should devise some means either orally or in writing
to verify that learning has taken place;
(2) By listening to lectures. When questions are permitted
at the end of the lecture, this provides the instructor
some insight as to whether learning has taken place;
(3) By the conference method. Conferences must be preceded
by some sort of input, such as reading, or lectures.
At least students should start with roughly the same
experience pattern. The instructor then (i.e., after
ascertaining that the above input has been put in),
proceeds by introducing questions, to create discussion
amongst the students and to lead them to the point
where they reach certain conclusions DESIRED BY THE
INSTRUCTOR. (Note: apparently theory holds that a
group of conferees will not be likely to come up with
valid alternative approaches to the problem at hand,
although the instructor should obviously be alert
to identify any new approaches and earmark them for
detailed examination later.)
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(4) A symposium seeks to arrive at a set of valid principles
for the subsequent guidance of all concerned with the
subject. It does this by having a very loose agenda.
Results are recorded by a secretary, and out of this
exchange of views should emerge a fabric of ideas which
action officers in the future may draw on in order to
improve their performance.
(5) In the seminar we seek to add to our present stock of
knowledge, and we do this by having students perform
original research and investigation, then present their
findings and conclusions to their colleagues in the
seminar for advice, criticism, etc. This approach is
valid only for students who are sufficiently advanced
to be able to add to our present stock of knowledge.
Upon reviewing the above-noted OTR Handbook on effective teaching, I
perceive on page lS that "In many of our (Agency) courses, seminars are
planned (apparently the author meant to say misplanned) for what are in
fact class discussions ...... this method of instruction is not applicable
generally throughout courses of training in the Agency".
In other words, we are sometimes given to calling an OTR course a seminar
because it sounds high-level, or informal, or advanced, when we actually have
no intention of conducting a seminar. We even find the phrase "true seminar"
cropping up as though there were some other accepted meaning to the word.
Like saying a horse is not a true automobile.
Now I believe that there may be a place for seminars in our scheme of
things, but I also imagine that what is wanted at the moment is a straight
course of instruction designed for COS-designates. Only we should not be
apologetic about this, as though there were no specific skills which the COS
can be required to master in preparation for his assignment.
One might perhaps argue that any COS-Designate ought to be mature enough
to take a set of written essays and absorb what he needed from them and thus
acquire these specific skills. However, the best of text books lack clarity
here and there and for best results an instructor familiar with the subject
matter is required to ensure full learning, and to verify through the means
of written or oral examinations that learning has taken place.
Further to teaching methods. There was some sentiment among the students
in the fourth running of the COS course in favor of having responsible guest
lecturers speak, answer questions, then leave, so that the class might discuss
among itself the validity or non-validity of what he had expounded. In the
rest of this paper I will call this the Guest-Lecturer-Class-Conference (GL/CC)
method.
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The use of panels of experts is in order when it is desired to bring
out opposing viewpoints on the subject at hand, or to illuminate different
aspects of the problem. It is suited to teaching approaches to problems
where there is no one predetermined answer or solution. To be useful it must
be followed by class discussion after the experts have left, to permit the
students through free discussion to clarify in their own minds why in this
case plural approaches are valid.
My tentative conclusion is that in teaching our COS-designates, we can
and should make use of all the above-noted methods, even including the
assignment of orignal research projects to selected students, the results
to be presented to the group in seminar fashion. The rest of this paper will
be devoted to an effort to identify and break down the skills peculiar to the
COS job, in tabular form, and to suggest in each case which teaching method
or methods would probably be best suited to teach what we want taught,
together with our views on the best speakers, the most qualified authorities,
how much time should be allotted, and what means should be used to verify that
learning has taken place.
On the specific subject of valid seminar subjects, my thought would be
to take as point of departure selected staff studies, such as the Foreign
Intelligence Series (of which six have been published to date) and ask
qualified students to delve into their own experience, consult all available
knowledgeable officers, and present a report of findings to the class, thus
up-dating the publication and in the process forcing all the students to
re-think the problem.
In addition to questions of content and method, we have been re-examining
the questions having to do with the advantages of full-time versus part-time
participation, and the advanta es of moving a larger portion, if indeed not
25X1A6b all of the course, to Although I believe that the impact would be
greater if the whole course cou d be given at I think the25X' 6bf
you could get a quorum of COS-designates to t or an extended period
of time, it would be even more of a problem to get the large number of senior
speakers to travel there for at most a one or two-hour talk. For the time
being, I lean towards a full-time course at Headquarters. I think it would
be better to get them for full time even if only for one week (ten days would
be very good and two weeks would be perfect), rather than string it out over
three weeks half time.
The question of classroom amenities is vexing. We ought to have a smaller
room, more comfortable, with perhaps our own coffee maker, good acoustics, and
good ventilation, without disturbing, extraneous noises. These amenities could
help to set the mature, serious tone we want to achieve.
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Finally, it seems plain that a major factor in the learning process is
motivation, and that if a majority of students in the class have not already
in fact been designated as COS at some named station, then much of the material
being taught is looked upon by the students as abstract, theoretical and of
no immediate concern to them. In the future we should avoid this.
As a matter of general procedures, I plan to furnish every guest speaker
well beforehand with a brief statement in writing of the slant I would like
him to take, explaining where his talk fits in to the over-all thrust of the
course. Wherever possible I plan to confer personally with each speaker to
get his views on the course and his part in it.
In addition I propose to establish a continuing system for updating
and revising course content, by interviewing returning COS's, division and
staff chiefs, and by working with "doctrine collectors" such as
who gets up the FI Staff Studies.
25X1A9a
The attached proposed curriculum eliminates the outside lecturer,
C. B. Marshall, and proposes a talk by Walt Rostow on general trends in
counterinsurgency thinking. One hour is not enough time for a course in
current events. On the other hand, a man like Rostow can provide much more
meaningful clues to a COS class. We would obviously not be trying to duplicate
the NIS course in one hour, but merely trying to set the course in t with
the NIS, which we presume all the COS-designates will take.
Attachment: Proposed Curriculum
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