Electronic Publications

[Hacksaw]

Distance learning doesnt shrink the time box either.

I'd never claim that it does... it shifts the burden to the student... who undoubtedly has precious little time whether deployed or otherwise

There is talk of making core classes all DL. This seems to place all the burden on the student and little on the institution. In essence they will be able to do more with less.

See above... no doubt... still there is a physics to this... if you have an inventory of low 90% faces to fill 100% operational spaces... and if you have some critical none operational jobs you really need a green face to fill... regardless of value of long stretches to build relationships and debate the universal relevance of one's experiences versus another... time in resident courses is a luxury that we probably don't have

And as drill said if you aint cheatin you aint tryin (just look at correspondence courses). 5 years down the road will this officer be as good as an officer who went to a resident course maybe. One thing that will certainly be lost is the peer relationships and networking that occurs at long residencies and there is a certain value to that. I can see both sides here. I am taking an online masters program and while i dont feel the core education is lost there does seem to be a great lost from the face to face and the non verbal. In fact, SWJ is a great deal like the education received from a DL course. The bureaucracy needs to stop pawning their kids off on the neighbors or grandparents etc. Yes education is an individual responsibility but individuals dont pay the price.

I'd only disagree to say that most on this venue communicate in complete thoughts (save perhaps myself) and a degree of decorum is practiced... I can't imagine anyone claiming dL is better, only that we can make it better and mitigate the loss of the face-to-face interaction... a final thought... Last night, I watched my daughter carry on a four way text conversation with four of her teammates that she had just left at the gym... I think there is a level of comfort in this generation of young soldiers that far outpaces ours