XplanaZine

Successful completion of an online course is often more difficult for the military student than for the regular working adult. Educational program administrators who have strictly adhered to commonly-adopted best practices may find that their policies, procedures, and instructional strategies conflict with operational realities of their military students who must overcome obstacles such as deployment, frequent TDYs, field training, remote locations, and security restrictions. Even military students who have worked carefully with education officers find that there is a gap between theory and practice, and the students who enthusiastically embark on an online course touted as cutting edge are often not able to complete it, or drop out after one semester. There are many reasons and contributing factors. Some have to do with poor information and advising. More often than not, the problems lie in the course structure and administration, with policies and procedures that are more appropriate for working adults who live in one time zone, have access to high-speed DSL or cable modems, and whose academic lives are not interrupted by being in harm’s way. Many issues can be avoided by building in accommodations and implementing proposed solutions found below in the “Checklist of Frequently Encountered Difficulties.”
Active-Duty Military Online Learners
Active duty online learners are signing up for courses at an unprecedented level. Often, earning a degree is a requirement for promotion or career advancement. For individuals preparing for retirement, completing a degree can help with a successful transition to a civilian career. The fact that the armed services offer educational benefits is often a key factor in an individual’s decision to enlist, and many individuals wish to take advantage of this very valuable benefit as quickly as possible, particularly when faced with back-to-back deployments.

EArmyU – Targets enlisted Army personnel, students may obtain information from their permanent duty station education officer
National Guard – Centralized information and services in Little Rock, Arkansas
DOD Contracts to deliver programs to specific bases and online – Air Force, Army, Marines, Navy Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Reserve Units
Coast Guard – Centralized information and services in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
Military Students Face Unique Hurdles
When military students do have access to information, it can be a frustrating experience. Al too often, what students encounter is too vague, confusing, and behind schedule. In addition, the following challenges may present themselves: how to fill out the paperwork for tuition assistance, etc.
—May not be on base or have access to an advisor
—May not have much experience with higher education
—Can have computer difficulties – unfamiliarity with software, procedures, etc.

Checklist of Frequently Encountered Difficulties

E-mail communication issues:
Solution 1: Have two e-mail addresses per student: 1) “official” school-provided e-mail, and 2) use student’s “permanent” or “military” e-mail address
Solution 2: Develop e-mail “mailer” programs that send out bulk e-mail individually so that they do not get hung up in spam guards.
Course Management Software access times out due to dynamic html & bandwidth-heavy applications
Solution 1: Provide a “lite” version that does not offer all the interactivity of the full version, but is applet-, java-, and dynamic html-free, and thus will load easily, even over a satellite phone or slow modem.
Solution 2: Low-tech backup plan to buy time. Have syllabus, course readings, materials, etc. available via a non-dynamic html website, and/or web-accessible rtf files, so that even if the student cannot post discussion items, he/she can still keep up with readings, e-mail the professor, and complete work

Course Interactivity Difficulties
Solution 1: Abandon the idea of synchronous chats – these do not work across multiple time zones.
Solution 2: Structure discussion boards with guided questions so that students can respond when they can, even if they must do several weeks at one time. Require students to respond to other students’ responses. Maintain flexible due dates.
Solution 3: Structure collaborative activities and peer reviews so that team members are not penalized by one person’s absence.
Online Research and Online Library Database Access Difficulties
Solution 1: Create mini-library of 30 – 50 instructor-selected journal articles and topics in zipped or easy-to-download formats so that students can download them and save to their own laptops or to a CD for off-line access. If necessary, the student can do his/her research within this “virtual online reserve” section. He/she can still have the experience of research without having the need to access. This can also be put into a CD and mailed to the student.
Solution 2: Provide online style guides (APA, MLA, Chicago, etc.) in a “one-stop shopping” location online to facilitate correct citations.
Solution 3: Provide a flowchart and guide to planning, drafting, writing, revising and research paper.
Solution 4: Use a “building block” approach to constructing research papers so that students are not overwhelmed at the last minute. The building block approach, simply stated, involves breaking a multi-stage, multi-step process into its individual components, and then asking the students to do each step separately. In many ways, this mirrors the philosophy of content objects, which is to say that it means achieving a certain degree of granularity. The building blocks are assembled, step-by-step, into a larger paper.
Timeline / Deadline Issues
Solution 1: Be flexible. Allow students to begin early. Post the syllabus and make the course website available before the start of the course to accommodate students’ schedules.
Solution 2: Send out regular reminders, which encourage students to contact the instructor if they need accommodations with respect to deadlines.

Things Can Fall Apart Quickly:
The Saga of Capt. Allison
Sadly enough, this sad tale is a composite of the experience of many.
Capt. Allison wishes to complete a Master’s degree, applies for admission for an MBA program. As a navigator, Capt. Allison knows she will have logistical challenges. Nevertheless, she is motivated to earn her degree, which will help her with her career in the Air Force, and could facilitate her transition to civilian life when she separates from the military. Hurdles immediately present themselves: GMAT, getting transcripts, etc. at precisely the same time she is called into active duty.
Front-End Delays, but Manageable: small bumps in the road present themselves
—Billing mix-ups
—Delays in admission committee decisions
—The University she has decided to attend does not seem service-oriented – in fact, they seem to block students
—Difficulties in getting clear advising; not sure which courses to enroll in, books to buy

The Course Starts:
Initial Enthusiasm
Capt. Allison is now active duty. This means six weeks of orientation at Tinker Air Force Base, then moving between several different bases in Germany, the Middle East, and Afghanistan.
Despite the logistical challenges, she is determined to work toward her MBA.
First snags:
—Books do not arrive in time.
—Log-in does not work.
—Does not receive a log in that works for almost a week
Easing Into the Program: : One 3-hour Graduate Course
Capt. Allison has signed up for one course, “Fundamentals of Management”
There are 22 students in her section
Required work involves readings, online research, collaborative work, discussion board postings, online “skill and drill” quizzes, and a final paper 12-week course
The “Let’s Introduce Ourselves” Required Discussion Board Posting
—Because of lack of correct username and password, Captain Allison can’t log in until the last day of the course
—She has 15 minutes online using the “morale computers” at Camp Doha, where she will be for a few weeks, flying missions
—One requirement: upload photo of herself and tell a bit about herself on the discussion board
—Captain Allison manages to borrow a digital camera and have a photo of her snapped
—She logs on, tried to upload it, but the connection speed is too slow, and it times out
—She does not have time to read the other postings, and simply copies and pastes her description of her goals, etc from a Word document into the discussion board
—She gets 3 out of 10 possible points
Discussion Board in Military Settings
—Captain Allison is flying missions and misses the deadlines for the next week posting
—She receives a 0 out of 10 and a warning from her instructor
—Feels frustrated, overwhelmed
—Wants to ask if others are experiencing the same difficulties, but hesitates, due to fear of reprisals

Discussion Board “Do’s” for Military Students
—Require postings and encourage students to respond to each other
—How? Very specific questions, require each person to respond once to the question
—Require students to respond to one student posting per discussion topic
—Do keep everything at “text only” and avoid bulky uploads
The First Assignments
—Captain Allison printed out the complicated array of required work
—After counting up the separate assignments, she calculated that she had a total of 56 separate assignments to do in a 12-week span of time
—Most involved complicated steps and filled her with anxiety. No one else in her unit was taking the course, so there was no one to talk to. She tried e-mailing the professor, but after a week, still no response.
Reading Assignments
—Three weeks into the course and STILL no textbook
—Captain Allison decides to focus on the online readings
—Files are too large to download from Blackboard
—Online links time out due to slow connection speed
Solution: E-mail text files as attachments, also develop course website
Textbook Dilemmas
—Five weeks into the course, and STILL no textbook; publisher reports it is back-ordered
—She has been informed that she will be based at a different air base, not yet determined
—She e-mails her instructor; instructor e-mails a notice that it is her responsibility to obtain textbooks
Solution: work with a textbook publisher that offers e-book or other resources (even CD) for faster delivery
The Labyrinth AKA The Course Content
Although the course structure seems simple enough – 12 weeks, 12 units – in practice, it is a very complicated and confusing path
No consistency of work
The presentation of the work is complicated and frustrating
Solution: Make each unit’s requirements uniform; “chunk” and consolidate work to reduce number of individual work assignments
Research Projects and Deployment
Finally, one of Captain Allison’s texts, the APA Style Guide, arrives
It is a surprisingly bulky book. The other texts finally arrive – together, they weigh 31 pounds and take up half a carry-on suitcase. Needless to say, Captain Allison cannot bring all the books with her all the time. The laptop alone takes up quite a bit of space
Solution: Put critical information on CD and make available via the Internet
Motivation and the Military
Initially, Captain Allison was very interested in her course. It seemed to be the perfect place for her to bring together real-world experience and theory
Unfortunately, the course had nothing to do with her experiences, and the assignments required memorizing definitions
Captain Allison was bored. She began to dread working on the course
More Motivation and the Military
The course weekly online quizzes
All were in Blackboard, and were self-scoring – they dealt with definitions, name recognition, etc.
Captain Allison took the first two tests. There was a power interruption, which closed the test. She could not log in again
The second test she took would not allow her to select options – the firewall would not allow certain dynamic html or java to work.
After receiving failing scores, Capt. Allison considered withdrawing from the course.
Online Tests and the Military
—Do not focus on “skill and drill” quizzes
—Do not over-use quizzes, even if it does seem to hold out the promise of reduced work
—Consider developing “adaptive e-learning” tests / quizzes
—Make sure the content is relevant
—Apply real-world concerns
Plagiarism Issues
In desperation, Capt. Allison decides to repurpose an old paper she wrote for an undergraduate course in managerial theory and to send it in for this course. She makes massive revisions – it is her own work, but a bit “off the mark” since the first version was for another class.
She is immediately accused of plagiarism by her instructor
Plagiarism: What is it anyway?
Cornered rat images fill Capt. Allison’s mind. What is she to do? She knows she did not plagiarize. Or, did she? What is plagiarism anyway? She is feeling very nervous. A plagiarism charge would ruin her academic career.
Solution: Make all students aware of the definition of academic honesty. Make sure faculty have a procedure to follow.
Collaborative Work and Deployment: Can they work?
The course requires students to upload their papers, send material to each other, and to develop a collaborative paper
Captain Allison managed to find two people in the course who seemed to be on the same page
Problem: Collaborations take a lot of time and rapid communication is necessary
Captain Allison was booted from her group after she “disappeared” for 4 days (was flying missions)
Requesting an “I” or an Extension
At the end of 12 weeks, Captain Allison had managed to finish 5 units completely, and to have made progress on 3 others
This was despite the rather large distraction of war and constantly shifting orders
She asked for an extension of 6 weeks
The professor recommended against it, saying she had “ample time” and it would not be fair to her fellow students
Key Elements for Success
—Streamlined course design
—Consistent design
—Available books, make readings available in multiple places
—Flexible assignments; give students the opportunity to choose topics to track with their own interests
—Rapid Response to student communications
—Instructional Design Checklist
—Consistent look and feel for each course
—Course objectives and goals clearly stated
—Activities tie with learning objectives
—Discussion board: structured & flexible
—Collaborations: productive
—Online interactive quizzes: be able to reset if problems occur
—Alternative delivery of texts and readings
Success Starts with Advising
Use 5-pt Likert: Strongly Disagree – Strongly Agree
—Student readiness: based on transcript, past performance, and stated motivation student will complete course
—Writing skills are at a level to assure success
—Student has clearly expressed academic goals
—Student has developed a study habits plan for successful time management
—Student has clearly expressed how successful completion of the academic plan will help achieve career or personal goals
—Student can describe the enrollment process
—Student can explain which courses to take
—Student demonstrates an understanding of course sequences, and why
—Student has received a checklist of required steps, including bursar, enrollment, degree completion plan