Posted June 25th, 2014
By Guest Blogger
If you are an active duty or National Guard/Reserve servicemember, veteran or military spouse – have you thought about the portability an online education could offer you?
Online education is a great way for servicemembers to go back to school while serving their country. Online courses and degree programs are developed specifically to provide the flexibility needed to fit the op-tempo and duty schedules of servicemembers as well as the hectic lifestyles of military spouses.
How Online Education Works
Online courses follow the same format as traditional college courses, with a professor, textbooks, homework, exams, etc. However online courses have a much higher degree of flexibility and usually use a combination of message boards, e-mail, chat rooms, CD-ROMs and textbooks. In a typical online course the professor will post weekly reading assignments, study questions and schedule a group online chat time. The student must post answers to the study questions and respond to at least one other student's postings by the end of that week. Online courses typically have weekly deadlines - however, your daily/weekly study schedule is completely up to you. At the end of the course or module you will have a final exam (lower level) or written essay requirement (upper level) summarizing the context of the class.
Just like in traditional college classroom courses, your success comes from a willingness to commit to your coursework. On average, online students spend a couple of hours a day studying. It is also essential for you to have a strong desire to learn and remain focused on the goal of earning the college degree - it is your degree that will expand your career opportunities.
There are a number of questions you should ask when choosing the right school and program for you:
- Does Military Tuition Assistance or the GI Bill cover the costs of the courses?
- Does the school grant academic credit for Military schools and experience, as recommended by the American Council on Education (ACE)?
- Does the media (CD-Rom, e-mail, internet, etc) fit your needs and abilities?
- Does the school have the program that fits your education goals?
If you think "online" may be the best fit for you, we encourage you to begin looking for the school that meets your needs. Schools usually have free information packets they will mail you with answers to the questions listed above, more on tuition costs, and an application.
Ed4Career offers over 600 online courses in 4 distinct areas of online education: 1) Career Training, 2) Personal Enrichment, 3) Professional Development, and 4) Health and Human Service Training. Find out more here!
For more information and blog posts on Military Career Education please visit here: http://milcareered.com/
