Carrigan realized that her student was in the military. The online course included portable laboratory experiments that allowed students to work entirely from home—or anywhere else, for that matter. When Carrigan contacted her student to follow up on the report, she learned he was stationed in Iraq.
Such remote training is particularly well suited to the military, in which soldiers experience “seconds of absolute terror followed by weeks of absolute boredom,” says microbiologist Jim Brown of Ocean County College in New Jersey, who has been teaching online courses for more than 10 years and began incorporating portable lab kits in 2005. “These courses really fit that niche.”
Indeed, Internet-enabled learning seems to be a mounting trend in the military, adds Brown, who also teaches for the online-only American Military University and has personally worked with more than 100 students in the armed services. “As they’re getting ready to come home, ...
