Education From a Distance
Written by Kelly Fodel
DANTES IS OFFERING SERVICEMEMBERS A
VARIETY OF DISTANCE LEARNING COURSES,
ALLOWING THEM TO SERVE THEIR COUNTRY
WHILE PREPARING FOR A BETTER FUTURE.
Fortunately, DANTES (Defense Activity for Non-Traditional Education Support) is there to help. DANTES makes distance learning (DL) courses a viable option for Department of Defense learners, allowing them to serve the country while preparing for a better future.
Located at Saufley Field in Pensacola, Fla., the mission of DANTES is to support the off-duty, voluntary education programs of DoD and to conduct special projects and developmental activities in support of education-related functions of the department.
DANTES manages higher education contracts with the American Council on Education (ACE), Servicemembers Opportunity Colleges (SOC) and the College Board. The activity also facilitates delivery of a wide variety of examinations, including the General Equivalency Diploma (GED) test, college admissions, credit-by-examination programs, and an extensive number of certification examinations. They also pursue special projects to ensure they are reaching all servicemembers. According to Betty Keese, the distance learning programs manager for DANTES, one recent study concerns mobile learning, looking at the effectiveness of PDAs, iPods, or small personal computers for distance learning.
“Wherever it makes sense to consolidate [education among the services], that is where we come into play,” Keese told Military Advanced Education. “DANTES provides support where it makes sense.”
The DANTES distance learning program provides military students with the option to get their education “at a distance,” no matter where in the world they might be located. There are three distance learning catalogs, designed to meet the needs of the DoD student. Currently, there are more than 230 “military friendly” educational institutions listed in the DANTES distance learning catalogs. These institutions provide more than 17,000 courses and 3,770 external degree programs for servicemembers.
“All of the schools in these three catalogs are distance learning courses. If they have any residence requirements, they have to give us some kind of statement saying what they will do for the servicemember before we will consider [listing them in a catalog],” said Kathy Westlake, field services operations specialist, DANTES. “Because if they have to come in for two weeks, and the servicemember is over in Iraq, what provisions will the school make so they do not have to do that?”
WEBSITE
DANTES is very proud of its new distance learning Website, www.dantescatalogs.com. This Website went online in January of this year. A student can browse through all three catalogs and get detailed information on each school, its course offerings and its academic advisers.
Each institutional listing provides information about points of contact, admissions policy, level of course offerings, tuition and fees, mailing and postage fees, transcript and registration fees, refund policies, lesson submission guidelines, course completion time and extension policies, grading policy, transfer policy, VA eligibility, accreditation information, and any special information.
On the institutional listing page, the “View Courses” button allows the user to see all of the institution’s individual course offerings by course number, title, hours, credit, course length, tuition, other costs and total cost. Also on the institutional listing page, the “Degrees” button allows the user to see the specific degrees offered by each institution, if applicable.
“The [institution’s page] on the Website is updated by the actual school, so they are responsible for keeping changes up to date and accurate,” said Westlake.
The military student would be well served to carefully read the introduction page at the beginning of each catalog. This introduction page explains the basics of the catalog, as well as pertinent information including enrollment and payment.
“The Website is interactive, and it has a search engine that is fantastic. You can search all three catalogs for a course that you are interested in, and it will bring up all the schools that have that course,” said Keese.
The Website also features a “personal assistant” that will keep track of your last 20 searches. For the student who isn’t quite sure how to utilize the Website or how to navigate the various catalogs, there is a helpful online tutorial explaining the various features to guide his or her way.
NADLP
The DANTES Catalog of Nationally Accredited Distance Learning Programs (NADLP) contains course listings from schools accredited by national accrediting agencies. The catalog lists courses and describes academic degree programs as well as vocational-technical certificates. Servicemembers may choose from a variety of individual courses or programs ranging from diplomas, certificates and degrees. Those degrees include associate, bachelor’s, master’s, doctoral and professional. The nationally accredited schools appearing in the NADLP provide options for independent study for servicemembers. The NADLP catalog features a variety of education options from a variety of schools, including careers in paralegal, funeral service and nutrition. One institution, Blackstone Career Institute, offers career diploma programs in legal assistant/paralegal, medical transcription, medical billing and coding, medical office assistant, and dental office assistant.
“All of our programs are self-paced and students can complete their lessons anytime, anywhere,” said Stacy Feifel of the Education Department at Blackstone. “Blackstone is one of the oldest distance education schools in the country. Our career programs are nationally and regionally accredited and qualify for veterans education benefits.”
Independence University has distance learning courses in more than 30 subject areas, from health care sciences and nursing, to finance and economics, to education and accounting. IU’s online programs allow the student to complete and submit assignments online and attend classes on his or her own schedule. Online exams feature instant scoring and feedback. But even though the students are learning at a distance, they can still use e-mail, chat rooms and discussion boards to meet with instructors, mentors and fellow students.
According to Alicia Poldino at Independence University, “You study independently, but you are never alone. You have access to online services, qualified instructors and a student adviser. Many students team up as study partners with other willing students in their area or online. Then you can study together, providing mutual motivation and support.”
Another institution, Taft Law School, offers graduate programs in law. The law school’s most popular program is its Juris Doctor- Attorney track program, which is a four-year program. Taft Law School is registered as a law school with the Committee of Bar Examiners of the State Bar of California, so graduates are eligible to sit for the California Bar Exam.
Taft Law School also offers two Juris Doctor-Executive track programs. Graduates of this program are not eligible to sit for the California General Bar Examination. This program has been very popular with entrepreneurs who serve in the reserves. Taft additionally features two Master of Laws in taxation (LLM) programs with concentrations in taxation and American jurisprudence, and a Bachelor of Science in laws.
DEDC
The DANTES External Degree Catalog (DEDC) lists distance learning programs available from regionally accredited colleges and universities that have little or no residency requirements for degree completion, making them very useful to servicemembers in achieving their educational goals. The catalog lists associate, baccalaureate, master’s and doctoral programs as well as credit-bearing certificate programs and teacher certificates.
One of the DEDC institutions, Amridge University, offers a wide range of associate, bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees in any of four colleges/schools: business and leadership, general studies, human services and theology. Some of the programs most popular with servicemembers include the Bachelor of Science in management communication, the Master of Science in leadership and management, and the Master of Arts in professional counseling. Amridge also offers a number of courses in the DANTES Independent Study Catalog.
“Amridge uses the Blackboard platform for all classes and, at the graduate level, an interactive Web instruction program, SumitPoint2, which makes it possible for the instructor and students seeing, hearing and collaborating with all class participants in a live Web online course,” said Rick Johnson, director of enrollment management at Amridge University. “These students and teachers may be located in any of the 50 United States or in any foreign country that has broadband internet service. Live streaming class sessions are recorded and made available online for a student’s review.”
A second DEDC program, at the University of Texas at Arlington, offers secondary teaching certification for grades 8–12, as well as a Master of Education in curriculum and instruction with an emphasis in literacy studies (with the option to become certified as a reading specialist and/or English as a second language teacher).
Central Texas College features 20 associate degrees and 20 certificates via DANTES distance learning. Sharon Davis, director of distance education and educational technology, says CTC offers the flexibility required by military students, with multiple start dates, choices of self-paced and non-selfpaced courses, varying lengths of courses, and a variety of delivery methods that include online and offline—or multimedia.
According to Davis, “CTC is aware of the restrictions facing military students and has kept these restrictions in mind during course development.” Penn State University also provides distance learning opportunities through its World Campus, which offers more than 60 career-enhancing degrees and certificates with the flexibility and convenience needed by military and veteran students.
DISC
The DANTES Independent Study Catalog (DISC) lists more than 6,700 undergraduate and graduate distance learning courses from regionally accredited institutions.
“We call them our ‘fill-in-the-gap’ courses. You can’t get a full degree there, but they have undergraduate and graduate courses,” Westlake said.
The purpose of the catalog is to provide specific enrollment information about distance learning courses that can be used to continue pursuing educational goals when the military student does not have access to more traditional course offerings. It also lists schools that offer credit-by-examination exams and schools that offer high school courses.
Indiana University offers more than 185 independent study undergraduate courses and more than 100 independent study high school courses, plus the online Bachelor of General Studies degree program through DANTES. According to Jim Johnson, academic adviser at Indiana University, “The independent study courses are not semester based. Students may begin courses any time during the year. They do not have to wait for traditional semester dates.” ♦