Deployed soldiers finish their college educations online (The Patriot-News)

Posted: 23 Jan 2010 09:15 PM PST

By JAN MURPHY, The Patriot-News

January 24, 2010, 12:00AM

CHRIS KNIGHT, The Patriot-NewsPennsylvania Air National Guardsmen Technical Sergeant Christopher Swisher, with the 270th Engineering Installation Squadron out of Willow Grove, took online courses while stationed in Afghanistan and earned a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration/Management degree from Central Penn College. Here, he's at his home in Lancaster. Bombs often exploded a half mile away from Technical Sgt. Christopher Swisher's tent at Bagram Airfield in Afghanistan.

Yet, Swisher said the bombs weren't the toughest challenge he faced in completing his coursework for his Central Penn College degree during his deployment. He cited two bigger obstacles: his textbook didn't arrive until 10 days after the class began, and he had only intermittent Internet access.

If it wasn't the mice chewing through cabling that provided Internet service to his tent, he said it was the military's computer system not being able to download the giant Power Point files from his professor. He ended up paying $70 a month to get more reliable service from a government contractor. "I basically was on the brink of unraveling," he said.

Swisher, a 43-year-old member of the Pennsylvania National Guard, returned from his deployment in December and graduated summa cum laude from the Summerdale college five days later. "It was a miracle that I even was able to finish," he said thinking back to the challenges he had overcome as a deployed soldier/student.

Barmak Nassirian, associate executive director of the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers, which represents 2,300 institutions, said colleges and universities offering distance education are seeing an uptick in this segment of their student body.

This phenomenon is fueled, in part, by the enhanced educational benefits that the military now offers. The Post-9/11 GI Bill that became available this fall allows veterans or active military to earn degrees at public and some private colleges at little to no cost.

As of last week, 385,000 veterans and active military had applied for this benefit, and 185,000 of them or their dependents are currently enrolled in a post-secondary institution.

At Penn State, its online World Campus has 398 active military enrolled, and 35 are currently stationed overseas.

Teaching the troops

The military offers generous educational benefits to encourage soldiers to advance their schooling, said 1st Lt. Israel Miller, an education support branch chief for the Pennsylvania National Guard. Not only does it make them better critical thinkers and decision makers, he said it helps the soldiers earn points to advance their military career or prepares them for a career outside it. "We want to educate our troops as much as possible," Miller said.

But the military also urges deployed troops to consider on-line courses for another reason, said Ginny Newman, Penn State's assistant director of military education. "It's a very positive and constructive use of down time as opposed to other activities that would not be as productive," she said.

Swisher agreed boredom does crop up, even in a war zone. "At night, you either got the gym or ... the entertainment like they have salsa night and country night .. but if you are not doing that, you're not doing anything," he said.

Besides, he found it easier to concentrate on his studies there than if he had been at his Lancaster home with his two young children and wife and McGyver reruns playing on TV — even with his dozens of tentmates. "When there's that many people in a tent, nobody talks loud ... It was a great place to study," he said.

While in Afghanistan, he did research for his capstone paper on a solution to labor-management issues at Verizon, where he works in the civilian world as a technician, and took his final business course, Foundations of Financial Management.

He said his prior Marine training that taught him to adapt, overcome and improvise came in handy during the six years — interrupted by two prior deployments — that it took to complete his business administration/management degree that he hopes will increase his marketability in the military or in the international job market.

Submitted photoArmy Spc. Ryan Morrison of Harrisburg, who is in the midst of a yearlong deployment in IraqCramming courses

Army Spc. Ryan Morrison of Harrisburg, who is in the midst of a yearlong deployment in Iraq, is learning all about those coping skills now.

Morrison, 20, of Harrisburg, enrolled in Penn State's World Campus recently and started his studies with an Introduction to Criminal Justice course.

The Bishop McDevitt High School graduate said in an e-mail that he started out taking only one course because of his busy schedule. The biggest challenges he has encountered so far are keeping up with schoolwork in between his two- and three-day missions and like Swisher, intermittent Internet access.

"I try to cram as much as I can while on radio watch (which is very boring)" and he said involves listening to radios and keeping in contact with other units about what is going on around them for long stretches of time.

"What I can't get done there I do after my 12-hour work shift in my 2 man chu," which he described as a shipping container that has a door cut in it and houses two to four soldiers.

Morrison said other soldiers who have taken online courses encourage him to stick with it. They tell him "to complete my classes and to try and not get behind on my school work and that to finish my classes because I won't regret it later in life," he said.

Many military students get frustrated by the technological and other challenges that arise while deployed, causing them to drop courses. Kaye Keith, an administrative support coordinator in the Penn State's registrar's office, said she tries to forewarn deploying students about those drawbacks, but that doesn't deter some from enrolling in the university's on-line courses.

"Many times they say to me I don't want to stop school all together. I want to continue and keep that link and be part of Penn State while I'm over there," Keith said.

Instructors adapt

For faculty and staff having students in a class located halfway around the world in a war zone can mean doing things they wouldn't typically do for an on-campus student.

Adam Walter, coordinator for Military and Veterans Affairs at Harrisburg Area Community College, said instructors in HACC's online courses send proctored exams overseas.

Faculty and staff have to make themselves available at odd hours to communicate with their military students because of the time differences, Newman said. Sometimes they have to advocate for students at the admissions' office or student affairs. Sometimes, faculty have to bend due dates for class assignments.

In Swisher's case, Central Penn College business administration professor Kathy Hepner said she had to differentiate her instruction since he couldn't access the online materials provided to other students in the class. But she didn't mind for the same reasons echoed by officials at other schools.

"I would go and do whatever I can do for somebody who was deployed over there because it's amazing what they do for us," Hepner said.

In Swisher's case, it involved lots of e-mails and phone calls at weird hours to keep him on track with his classmates. "I wanted him to succeed," Hepner said. She was impressed with his dedication to his education despite the danger that surrounded him.

"He would write, 'If you don't hear from me, it's because something happened,'" Hepner said. "It was like an 'Oh my God' situation when he would say that. The fact he was successful and he did his work in the midst of all of that was amazing and kind of put things in perspective."

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Sunday, January 24, 2010