Do you think greater distance learning and shortened resident instruction is a good thing? As always... it depends... for core curriculum stuff that falls into the category of mandatory topics that are universally considered a waste of time... and that lends itself to independent study... distributed works and serves the purpose it was intended

The came to mind because I recently recommended to the dean of my law school that the school re-think its policy on absentee-ism and class participation. Law students are required to attend class. If you miss a few classes you can be dropped from the course, regardless of your performance. Part of the rationale for this is that a profession is more than just learning material in a book and regurgitating it on a test. There is value in interacting with other professionals (in this case, professors) who are more experienced, skilled or knowledgeable than you are on the narrow topic that is being discussed in the class. The rationale clearly makes sense on the surface, but... Two of the problems that I pointed out with our current policies are that 1) they are not enforced and 2) most students are "present" in class but they spend the entire class period on Facebook, rather than paying attention and interacting. Many, if not most, of the highest ranking students (at least at my school) just buy commercial outlines and then, the week before the exam, take ADHD pills and study 20 hours per day to memorize the outlines, and then regurgitate this material on their exam at the end of the semester. Yet every professor scratches his or her head when observing that GPA has no correlation to one's prowess as a lawyer after graduation. Falling into the category of being careful what you measure, you might not get the behavior you intended

Having attended four undergrad, grad, and law schools and having taken distance learning courses in grad school and heavily abbreviated courses in the Army (40-hour courses that really only include about 28 hours of instruction, with little time for reflection), I've experienced learning in a variety of formats and I see very little value in avoiding classroom interaction and little value in short-term information cramming. Well if you put it that way ... and when discussing the finer points of leadership and tactical/operational employment of forces I agree that doing it via distance is less than an engaged discussion between two professionals interested in their profession and prepared for the dialogue... of course this is not so common

The quicker information is learned, the more easily it is forgotten. The less involved the learning process, the more easy it is to think you've learned something when you haven't and the more likely you are to pencil whip and BS your way through an exam that says to the world that you understand the information. But if i can't (for reasons of OPTEMPO and $) afford to maintain long resident courses that allow students adequate time to reflect upon operational experiences and engage in professional banter over a couple Guiness Pints.... Can I at least make the distributed learning experience as rich as possible so that learning is retained... so that unlike the CAS3 box of books... students can see the topic within context and hence have a better chance of applying that concept when it matters... and that is the point... the resident courses (less ILE, SAMS and USAWC have already been shortened)