Reflections on Blended Distributed Learning: The Armor Captains Career Course

摘要

The purpose of this study was to investigate how various distributed learning technologies impacted the training of Armor officers in an advanced course, the Captains Career Course. There were three phases to this course - asynchronous, synchronous, and residential. At the completion of one complete course iteration, two groups of students, as well as three instructors and the course advisor, were interviewed regarding their experiences with the online learning components. Each group mentioned distinct advantages and disadvantages from the different online components including greater and timelier feedback, realistic scenarios, downtime due to technology problems, and an overwhelming choice of tools and options. Ten key Web-based instruction considerations or issues were mentioned across participants and several recommendations for improving this program and building similar ones were provided.