Online Education. A lot of military folks get online degrees. What are the good and bad experiences you've had with online classes?

I retired from the Navy and went to school full time online and completed my BS degree completely online and loved every minute of it. I then went on to complete my MA in Teaching in a hybrid online program where we went to classes one Saturday a month for 18 months and everything else was either online or student teaching in the classroom. The program was great though I heard about other schools in Oregon with similar programs that do not work as well as Western Oregon University. I am glad I took the path I did as it helped me land a great teaching position in Idaho.

Upside, it can work with the most insane of schedules.
Downside, (for some at least) nobody there to push / motivate you but you. It worked fantastic for me.

The Chaplain Corps, when we needed numbers, starting taking Chaplains with online Master's degrees (Particularly from Liberty University) As we draw down, the lack of classroom interaction and face to face mentorship seems to be boiling to the top. This may not translate to the technology field and may not be helpful. I do know that I don't want an MD, a Lawyer or a Chaplain who studied online.

I participated in the original Annenberg/CPB Project through the University of Wisconsin extension in the late 80s. I finished my MBA in 2011 and it was all conducted completely online. Since then I have been taking online classes through MIT OpenCourseWare and now through edX. Also, on my last tour on active duty I was the Training and Readiness Officer with oversight of more than 3,000 sailors with multiple schoolhouses. One of the projects I oversaw was the conversion of conventional training to the Navy’s education portal, Navy Knowledge Online (NKO).

In answer to your question I think what drives military students to the web based training is the flexibility that type of training provides in our ambiguous schedule. With potential deployments and uncertain world events we are not always able to commit to a formal classroom setting.

For example when Katrina hit the gulf coast over the Memorial Day weekend in 2005 the Admiral had put down liberty that Thursday because our Optempo had been so high that year with two wars going on and the various other emergencies that crop up. I was in the process of getting my PhD in Coastal and Marine System Science (CMSS) at Texas A&M Corpus Christi, right out the back gate at NAS. I then spent the next two weeks running the Navy operations at sea for the response and follow on occupation of New Orleans. Tried to get back up to speed in my classes then Rita showed up. Obviously since I am not referred to as “Dr. Wright” my bid to complete “traditional” classes failed.

SPC Joshua Heath

Getting an on-line degree allowed me the freedom to study and attend 'class' as it fit my schedule. Additionally, it did not matter where I was as long as I had a connection to the inter-net. I was able to PCS and not have to find a new school. TA paid for the majority of the degree...a win/win in my book.

Different environments suits different learners, Online education is definitely a valuable tool to obtain your degree, I am working on my BA now. I am grateful I do not have to sit in a classroom 2-3 nights a week for 8-10weeks to finish one class. My time is valuable and while time management is crucial to your success, it is a great advantage when you have to juggle multiple responsibilities.

I love online Education due to I can multi-task stay home and watch my kids, manage the house hold and still go to Army Reserves. I am presently going to Capella University for a Ph.D. in Advance Studies in Behavior.

I went to Liberty University and I was able to attend New Orleans Baptist Theology School and obtain my 90 hr. Masters in Divinity in two years. Know your strengths and do not put off today what you can do tomorrow.

When I began my online degree program (disabled veteran/ Chapter 31 Vocational Rehabilitation) I made the decision (a bad one at that) to attend The University of Phoenix. The beginning courses for my major (Management) were ridiculously easy. They got more in depth but the problem was the quality of my fellow students. Make NO mistake, I am no scholar! But I understood the importance of essential writing skills, proper grammar, learned real fast that Wikipedia is NOT a citable source. Under normal circumstances, my peers skill levels would be of no consequence. However with the University of Phoenix, half of your grade was based upon learning teams. Not so bad, and would seem to get away from the compartmentalization that seems to define Online education. Yet the quality of my education was being compromised by people who had no business being in the same course. I mean writing skills for the vast majority were bad, writing in APA, not a clue as to citing a source. I might add that I never met a bunch of people more apt to have family emergencies, computer viruses, car accidents, sick kids. Some folks were just all but vanish until the night before an assignment was due and ask at the last minute what could they do. If they were left out of the assignment we were penalized. Now I understand life has its issues and can draw us away from our schooling endeavors. But what would end up happening was if I wanted a grade better than a C, I along with a handful of fellow classmates would have to handle these "Group assignments" in their entirety.
After three years of this, I realized this was pointless and I went looking for a better opportunity. I found that opportunity at American Military University. I changed Majors and switched to Emergency Management / Counter-terrorism. It came at a cost, I left the UOP with 86 credit hours. Moving forward into a new Major meant starting with 42 credit hours, 46 credit hours vanished into thin air.
It was tough and the thought of losing essentially, one and a half years of work, sucked!! Yet I did it and at this point I am 6 courses away from my Bachelor's in Emergency management / Counter-Terrorism.
That is not to say that AMU is the be all end all for Online education. But I will say that I am amongst my peers, both Active duty and retired military and a healthy dose of active duty law enforcement personnel.
Graduates of AMU have some impressive credentials throughout the government and out in the private arena as well.
l have found that it is harder than a classroom education at a brick and mortar institution. Not better or worse education-wise but motivationally speaking. It is easier to handle the course load at a brick and mortar school. At home, it is harder to maintain motivation and requires more discipline, to not get taken askew from an assignment or reading

My husband took classes online while in Afghanistan and turned in all of the papers he could early because they were getting attacked almost daily. This class had the major papers posted in Blackboard and were set on a time limit. My husband was unable to make the final paper on time due to a firefight that killed several people and the internet was shut down for a few days so that family could be notified. After explaining all of this to his teacher, the teacher still failed him for not turning in the assignment on time. Needless to say at the time a failing grade was the least of his problems as the fighting increased around his area so by the time he got home he didn't want to report his teacher for failing him in the class. The professor was fully aware of my husbands status in the military and knew ahead of time that the possibility of being attacked and the internet getting shut off was high and did nothing to work around to help him get the paper in outside the timeline.

Convenience is a pro to online education. Your classroom is open 24/7 and your reading materials are all online. I did my Masters mostly online. But for most of my classes, we did a Flexnet format which means students meet physically in a classroom at the end of the first week for four hours of lecture and to form teams and then we meet again at the end of the last week to present a team project. in this way, not only did we hone our writing skills, but we practiced presentation and public speaking skills too while mastering Powerpoint. The bad parts are how online education is being treated by traditional brick and mortar universities and by the media. But these are more defensive actions in terms of where technology is taking and remodeling the education industry as traditional players feel the squeeze.