The Foreign Service Journal, June 2010

O NLINE E DUCATION : U NPRECEDENTED O PPORTUNITIES O NLINE EDUCATION GIVES F OREIGN S ERVICE FAMILIES THE MEANS TO TAILOR THEIR LEARNING NEEDS TO THEIR CIRCUMSTANCES . B Y K RISTI S TREIFFERT ust as today’s Foreign Service families cannot imagine how their predecessors lived without the Internet, we may soon be wondering how we ever got along without online education. Distance learning, as it is sometimes called, offers an unparalleled opportunity for FS fam- ily members to target and tailor their educa- tional needs to their circumstances. Last year, nearly five million students took at least one online course from a degree-granting institution of higher education in the United States. The technology for deliver- ing online courses and degree programs is rapidly growing more sophisticated. Professors are becoming more adept at teaching online. And most propitious of all, postsecondary institutions are passionate about the opportunity to present educational opportunities to a global “campus.” Universities offer online undergraduate degrees in near- ly every possible topic — from interior design to accounting. Online master’s degrees cover the fields of business, health care, management, government, human services, legal stud- ies, education and information technology. Online doctor- ate programs include education, public policy, business administration, religion — and more. One leader in the field, University of Maryland University College, offers undergraduate programs in everything from psychology to emergency management. Another, Boston University, offers both master’s degrees and doctorates in music educa- tion, among other online programs. And Stanford Uni- versity offers a computer science master’s degree that can be completed online. Initially, educators approached online education skepti- cally. Could students stay motivated without face-to-face contact? Would online students cheat more? How do you measure knowledge gained by students when they are not present for testing? But with millions of students now online — and with more than a decade of experience — numerous strategies have evolved to address these issues. And among those who benefit the most are Foreign Service families. There is no one set of programs that works best for Foreign Service families — to suggest otherwise would be to ignore the wide array of circumstances of family members (age, educational level, English-language abilities, and inter- ests and talents, to name a few). It would also ignore the fact that there are now thousands of options available to choose from. In fact, the plethora of opportunities for online students means that the buyer must beware. The online student must identify his or her educational goals clearly — a degree? a postgraduate degree? a certificate? continuing education credits? — and then carefully choose the appro- priate institution and program. Choosing a School It’s best to begin with the basics. There are three types of accredited institutions of higher education in the United States: public, private nonprofit and private for-profit. Nearly all public institutions (from the University of Nebraska to Northern Virginia Community College) offer some form of online education, although not all lead to degrees. (Many specifically target working adults and offer “professional development” classes and certificates.) And about half of all private, nonprofit educational institutions offer online education. Examples include the Florida In- 62 F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L / J U N E 2 0 1 0 S CHOOLS S UPPLEMENT Kristi Streiffert, a Foreign Service spouse, is a freelance writer fromDurango, Colo. She writes about business, education, the environment and travel. J