The Chronicle: Colloquy Live Transcript

August 29, 2000

The Army's Big Push in Distance Education

How will the U.S. Army's drive into distance education change the online-learning industry? Will colleges benefit from this push?

Read a related story on this topic.

A transcript of the chat follows.

Sarah Carr (Moderator):
Welcome to today's live chat with Louis Caldera, the secretary of the U.S. Army. Mr. Caldera, who has been secretary since 1998, is one of the driving forces behind the Army's plan to offer distance-education courses to all interested soldiers.

He will be answering questions about this initiative for the next hour, and we invite you to submit questions. All comments and questions are welcome, but we particularly encourage questions that relate to the broad goals and vision of the program, rather than those that concern specifics.

Thanks very much for joining us today, Mr. Caldera.

Louis Caldera:
Thank you, Sarah. We are delighted by the interest that has been expressed in the Army University Access Online initiative. We have received numerous inquiries at our website at earmyu.com, and many answers to questions are posted there. Any questions we can’t take today can certainly be forwarded to earmyu.com, and we will be sure to answer them. The draft request for proposal is already available at earmyu.com.

Question from Nila Reynolds, Minot AFB Education Center, ND:
This is a very expensive project: what made the Army decide it would be money well-spent?

Louis Caldera:
Because so many young people are choosing college over military service, we felt that creating a Learn While You Serve option would benefit recruiting and retention, as well as help produce the better educated and more technology-savvy soldiers our nation will need in the 21st century.

Question from Betsy Dreisbach, Jefferson Community College:
Is this effort intended to supplement or supplant existing Army educational programs? Will funding be reduced for traditional educational environments?

Louis Caldera:
Funding will not be reduced for existing educational environments. However, I believe that high quality distance learning programs will put pressure on traditional programs to improve in terms of quality and accessibility. They will have to be as good and user friendly to attract students.

Question from Van Bridgeman, CSU Dominguez Hills:
Will the Army consider forms of program delivery other than online/internet? Will programs with synchronous components be considered?

Louis Caldera:
Yes, and what we are looking for is the widest range of choices so that soldiers can find the program that fits them best. Some soldiers will have more of an interest in a synchronous program, and others in an asynchronous one. We want to make sure they can sign up for the program that they think works best for them.

Question from Sarah Carr:
Several readers have posed questions about whether specific types of programs will be included in the Army's new initiative. Specifically, they have asked about programs in continuing professional education, foreign languages, religious instruction, health and medicine. It is my understanding that the Army wants to offer a wide range of subjects and degrees to its soldiers, and none of these areas would be excluded. Is that correct? Are there any types of programs you are NOT looking for?

Louis Caldera:
That is correct. Those kinds of programs would be included. As long as a program is accredited, and soliders feel they are benefitting in some way from getting that education or training, we want to make that choice available to them.

Question from SFC David R. Spangler, U.S. ARMY:
If this program is implemented, how long do you think it will be before all soldiers will be able take advantage of this program?

Louis Caldera:
We hope that the phase-in period will be three to five years, depending on the technological challenges of providing connectivity at foreign installations.

Question from Richard Hezel, Hezel Associates:
Do you expect that institutions that collaborate to offer courses and programs to the Army will be preferred over those that offer programs individually?

Louis Caldera:
Part of the power of the Internet is choice and what we want is for soldiers to have the greatest amount of choice over the educational providers and course offerings that best fit their needs. Competition that can include collaboration should lead to the highest level of choice, quality, and at the lowest price. I envision a system in which scores of schools can participate individually or in collaboration with others so long as they are quality programs.

Question from Jane McHugh, Reporter, Army Times:
Is the Jan. 1 deadline for connecting Army University Access Online unrealistic considering that Army barracks lack the bandwidth and laptop computers to connect to the system? How does the Army plan to overcome this deficiency?

Louis Caldera:
No. We still have that date in mind. The first installations we are likely to select for this program are ones in which the basic fiber-optic network is already in place, and where it will be relatively easy to pull it into the barracks.

Question from Mary Stout, OSD, Chancellor of Education:
How can one contract provide services to all the myriad public and private institutions and organizations that soldiers may want to attend?

Louis Caldera:
The contract may be with one vendor, or a consortium of vendors who will provide the technology package, run the help desk, and sign up the schools that will be the providers of the course content and awarders of degrees. The vendor would sign up any qualified school that was willing to offer its courses to our students on the terms the Army offers. The vendor will work with the Army to specify those terms. They clearly have to be terms that are attractive and acceptable to a large number of U.S. educational providers for this to work.

Question from Mary Beth Susman Kentucky Virtual University:
Do you expect your respondents to provide all products and services needed for this effort, i.e. curriculum, hardware, ISP, enrollment management, databases? Or will you be using separate RFP's for various aspects?

Louis Caldera:
We will have one RFP for setting up the Army Univeristy Access Online program in a way in which many schools will be able to sign up as providers under that structure. We assume that the course offering will be the same as that which they offer their regular students via distance learning.

Question from Jim Ellis, Assoc. Dir. Int. Prog, Wash. St. Univ.:
The Army clearly has a major global presence. When planning the distance education program what role will international education play? Will you be interested in using a global faculty/university base?

Louis Caldera:
There is nothing that would preclude a globally-based faculty or foreign university from offering education to our soldiers if it is an accredited program, and they are willing to sign up on the terms the Army is looking for.

Question from Scott Kaplan, recent graduate:
Do you envision that the Army may become something of monopoly figure in the distance education landscape as a result of the new program?

Louis Caldera:
Absolutely not. I believe this program proves there is a huge market for employer-provided online education programs. I suspect most products offered to soldiers initially will be ones that have already been developed for other students. If new offerings are developed in response to this program that will certainly benefit more students than just our soldiers, since nothing will prohibit those schools from offering those programs to others.

Question from Frank L. Christ, University of Arizona:
Will soldiers taking distance education courses have online and on campus access to academic support services and programs, such as a library or career and counseling centers?

Louis Caldera:
I personally believe that online access to libraries, counseling, and other educational support will be important to success in course completion. Soldiers are likely to choose the programs that offer the support they need to successfully complete the courses they start. Schools should compete on the basis of quality programs with good student support. Schools that provide those things best are likely to attract the most students.

Sarah Carr (Moderator):
We are about halfway through today's discussion, so please send in a question if you haven't already. We are trying to get as many answered as possible.

Question from Anonymous:
How important is it to the army that the online schools that it chooses have an established presence in the distance-education arena?

Louis Caldera:
Getting the program up and running quickly will undoubtedly require working with some technology providers and educational institutions that are already active in the online education area. However, because this is a relatively new field, nothing would preclude a school from deciding to develop content for programs to offer to the Army. The Army is likely to be interested in those programs if they are accredited, and valued by our soldiers. Ultimately, it is soldier choice that will deterimine which programs are in greatest demand and most successful.

Question from Mark Bourne, Harvard University:
The military has some of the finest technology available. Do they plan to use their research capabilities to produce new technology for learning?

Louis Caldera:
Much of the technology we work on is done in university settings, although some is proprietary in conjunction with defense companies. Most of that technological development is done in the procurement arena, and not under our soldier-education programs. But the possibility of collaborating in that manner is certainly available.

Question from Lorna Dodt, Army Materiel Command:
As an Army librarian I have always supported off-duty education. But as financial support for libraries becomes harder to come by, how will we be able to respond to the increased demand from the soldiers enrolled in this program?

Louis Caldera:
Some of the library resources soldiers will need are likely to be available online. However, if experience shows that more installation-based resources are necessary for this program to succeed, then we will provide it.

Question from Joe Ledbetter, Contra Costa College, California:
How might small community colleges without extensive distance education courses align themselves with this recent Army push?

Louis Caldera:
I would consider what my competitive advantage is. Do I have a proven course with superb instructors and a high sucess rate to offer? And then I would market that course or those courses aggressively. I would also consider marketing to soldier- students from my state or region, perhaps even by offering them something they would find particularly attractive: a guaranteed seat in a future on-campus class for students who complete a certain number of hours.

Question from Frank Newman, Brown University:
There was a time, not so long ago, when the Army performed a major public service by sweeping up large numbers of poorly educated and poorly motivated young men off the streets. After their service they were returned to society better educated, motivated and disciplined. The volunteer Army ended all that.

Today, the need is to provide a far larger part of each age group with post-secondary experience. Is it your goal that this program should provide society with a modern version of the previous role-- education at a new level for the new, more complex society and economy?

Louis Caldera:
I believe it can achieve that purpose and that is one of the larger goals of this program-- to push the frontiers of how to deliver access to higher education for working adults. However, our chief goal is to make sure that soldiers have incentives to join and stay in the Army because they are attaining the education and marketable skills they will need to succeed in the Army and in their post military employment.

Question from Peter Gwynn, University Continuing Ed. Assn., DC:
The draft RFP requires an unprecedented level of coordination among higher-education institutions in terms of pricing, credit transfer, record keeping and delivery of student services. Many of our member institutions are at the forefront of online learning, but cannot deliver this level of integration in two or three months. Might we expect changes in the formal RFP that reflect this reality?

Louis Caldera:
We issued a draft RFP precisely so we could get feedback on how to proceed in a manner that will help make this program successful. I am hopeful that it is possible to set basic terms that universities and colleges can agree to, and that achieving such cooperation is doable. There will certainly be opportunities to modify and refine those terms, and to strengthen that cooperation over time. All of America will be a winner if we can find that common ground that makes access to a wide range of academic programs easy and affordable for average Americans.

Question from Jennifer McClure, DeVry Inc.:
What process is in place or do you envision to assist students in determining what type of program to pursue?

Louis Caldera:
The Army, though its education centers, can direct students to a variety of programs, one of which will be Army University Access Online. I would envision that within Army University Access Online, there will be additional sources of assistance to direct students to the right program, not the least of which would be advertising and/or resource information provided by the schools themselves.

Question from Jean Conway, New Mexico State University:
Will the proposed online courses be evaluated for quality, and if so, what criteria will be used?

Louis Caldera:
Quality is certainly important, because we want soldiers to walk away from the Army with degrees and/or certifications that mean something in the private sector. The specific accreditation standards or other quality measures will be laid out by the vendor selected to administer the program in conjunction with the Army. I assume we would use generally accepted standards, and not try to reinvent the wheel on what a quality program is.

Question from meredyth leahy, regents college:
It appears to me that the most significant change which may emerge from this venture is that colleges and universities may have to differentiate between delivery of content/knowledge and enrolled students who are viewed as products of their institutions and recipients of their unique brand of education. This RFP supports that view of higher education, opening up to the Army access to an accumulation of learning in all its forms. Is one of your goals to make soldiers learners who can be effective multiple settings and various delivery modes?

Louis Caldera:
I believe that will be one of the benefits of this program. While online education cannot replicate the "college experience" of, say, a small, traditional, four-year, liberal-arts college, the reality is that that education is largely unavailable to a great many of our soldiers. Getting the educational benefit, if not the unique college experience, is nonetheless extremely valuable to our soldiers.

Question from Anne Hird, Bridgewater State College:
How do you anticipate the distance education initiative will compare to the 1944 GI Bill as far as increasing access to college education?

Louis Caldera:
For soldiers, it will be the next great innovation that opens the door to a college education for thousands who would otherwise not obtain one. Indeed today, many former soldiers who are eligible for the GI Bill are not using those benefits because of work or family commitments. For society, advancements in online education are going to usher in a new era in educational achievement levels among Americans of all backgrounds.

Question from Jane McHugh, Reporter, Army Times:
I have been hearing from soldiers not necessarily interested in education online but who are interested in having the Army give them PCs for Army-related work. Does this seem like a possibility?

Louis Caldera:
Because this is an educational program, interested soldiers will no doubt have to sign up for some kind of course offering and be making progress to justify being enrolled in the program. The day will come soon, however, when every soldier will have his or her own portable PC for education, communication, and work. Whether those individually-issued PC's are issued under the auspices of this program, or in some other manner remains to be seen.

Question from Claudine SchWeber, U of Maryland University College:
How will the effectiveness of this program be assessed?

Louis Caldera:
We will track enrollment rates and success rates, including average years to completion of degrees in different programs. This consumer information may help other soldiers and students make better-informed decisions about which programs are likely to lead to success. Other measures of effectiveness are certainly warranted. One of the challenges for schools is how to assess levels of learning to a degree that justifies awarding of letter grades and degrees.

Sarah Carr (Moderator):
That is all we have time for today. I'm sorry that we weren't able to get all the questions answered, but would like to thank everyone for participating. Thanks especially to Mr. Caldera, for taking the time to join us today. A transcript of this discussion will be available on the Web site shortly.

Louis Caldera:
Thank you, Sarah.