Our Soldiers Benefit From Distance Learning College Classes

Online classes involve obtaining 80 to 100 percent of a course's content online, according to the Sloan Consortium, and distance education typically attract students who otherwise might not be able to attend classes at a traditional campus. Lori Popp told the Jacksonville Daily News that technological advances in distance education now make it easier for deployed service members to continue their education. The consortium, comprised of organizations and institutions committed to quality online education, recently released the results of a study entitled "Learning on Demand: Online Education in the United States." Between the falls of 2007 and 2008, the study noted, the number of online students increased by 17 percent, to 4.6 million.

Taking advantage of tuition assistance these days are more than 1,000 deployed marines and sailors, Popp said. Online courses, according to an October article in The Chronicle of Higher Education, are a "boon for soldiers who want to participate in college despite geographic displacement." The Chronicle article told the story of a professor and National Guardsman whose deployment to Iraq didn't interfere with her ability to teach online classes in economics. Soldiers between the chaos keep busy by working, reading, exercising, playing video games and watching movies, the article noted. Many also enroll in classes toward their distance learning degrees while they're deployed, according to The Chronicle.