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Written by: Barbara Lauren
Published: 07/06/2006 Schools Face Challenges in Providing Online Education for Military Students
Providing online education to those serving in the armed forces presents some special challenges to both non-profit and for-profit providers. Special problems faced by such students are:
- Slow connection speeds
- Frequent transfer – Example: A textbook sent to soldier-students in Egypt may not reach them once they are transferred to Qatar
- Large time-zone differences – Makes requirement for students to meet online at a set time very difficult
Yet many institutions are focusing on the special needs of these highly motivated, mature students. Some major non-profit players are: - University of Maryland University College – The continuing-education branch of the state university.
- Pennsylvania State University’s World Campus – An online division of the university system, it has only been actively courting military students for the past two years.
- Old Dominion University – Located next to the Naval Station at Norfolk, VA, the largest U.S. Navy base. Teaches many of its courses through satellite feeds and CD-ROMs. A student’s commanding officer can administer exams stored on the ship’s computer.
Partnership between the Army and higher education: - eArmyU – Allows soldiers to use tuition money to take online courses through 28 colleges. The Army hopes to add more institutions.
Some for-profit players are: - University of Phoenix Online – Its Military Division enrolls about 16,500 students out of 99,500 total students at Phoenix Online, according to The Chronicle of Higher Education.
- American Military University – For-profit, online, based in West Virginia
- Touro University International – For-profit, online, based in Missouri. About 4,000 of its 6,500 students serve in the military, according to the Chronicle.
- Grantham University – For-profit, online, based in California. More than half of the nearly 11,000 students at Grantham University are in the armed forces, according to the Chronicle.
One possible downside in marketing and recruitment is that military force levels are capped by Congress. However, satisfied students may continue their distance education even after their military commitment is over. And, says Ginny Newman, assistant director for military education at Penn State, “We’ve recognized that they’re really motivated, mature students.”
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