Covering the business of education and training

Online education is NOT for everyone. But there is one niche that online education does seem to especially cater to despite some challenges.

That group is the military.

The special problems that military students face are:

1. Slow connection speeds - being in remote places means DSL or cable is not always/usually available.

2. Frequent disconnects - the student sometimes gets transfered before their materials show up. University of Phoenix has solved this problem by making all texts available online.

3. Large-time zone differences - this is not always a problem unless the student needs a quick answer. A student may post a question about the time his/her classmate and instructors go to bed. When the answer comes, the student is in bed.

There are several non-profit universities that cater especially to this group of relatively mature students:

University of Maryland University College -

Pennsylvania State University's World Campus

Old Dominion University - located next to the largest US Naval base in Norfolk, VA.

eArmyU - soldiers can use tuition money to take online courses through 28 colleges

I have had quite a few students in online classes for the university I teach at and they are indeed more mature than many of their classmates.

Thankfully, many of them are in the same classes so as to not ruin the curve - if I could have one.