Department of Defense Archives

In the clamor for increasing graduation and persistence rates, are we ignoring the student at risk factors and student characteristics?

February 22, 2012 Wally Boston

In the early days of online education, a commonly discussed phenomenon was the low completion rates of students. Some chose to explain the departure of students using characteristics such as lack of social integration and academic integration for students matriculating in online programs as identified by Vincent Tinto and others. As technologies utilized in the classroom improved and subsequently, online teaching techniques, student persistence improved as well, but not close to the levels sustained by some of the best face-to-face programs.

The “Myths” About Online Education

May 4, 2010 Wally Boston

I received an email from a student asking me what he could do when people state that American Military University (AMU) or American Public University (APU) are “diploma mills” or unaccredited. I thought I would post my response.

The “myths” that AMU or APU are diploma mills or unaccredited are invalid. In most cases, the myths are more than likely disseminated by individuals who do not care for online colleges and universities.

An Apology to the Coast Guard

January 11, 2010 Wally Boston

For a number of years, we have printed a calendar for our students serving in the armed forces. In previous years, the theme for the pictures was “Our Athletes Don’t Play Games” with pictures of service members provided by the Department of Defense and Department of Homeland Security. This year, we altered the theme to “A University of Heroes.”

President Obama Offers a Boost to Community Colleges

July 24, 2009 Wally Boston

Last week President Obama announced the American Graduation Initiative, a 10-year, $12 billion plan focused on community colleges. Community colleges play an integral role in the American higher education system and will play an even bigger role as America works toward President Obama’s goals of regaining America’s place as the world’s leader in college completion rates and establishing an American workforce that is able to compete with that of other nations.

Digital Natives

October 2, 2008 Wally Boston

I had planned to followup my article about Apple with an article about the differences between my generation of computer users and my children’s generation. The impetus for my original plan was watching my eight year old daughters search Google the other morning for the term “cute baby animal pictures.” When I saw that Google was able to synthesize that request and deliver links to some very cute baby animals, I thought about the term Digital Native which I had first heard a few years ago from West Virginia’s First Lady, Gayle Manchin.

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