The shelter-in-place order hit Monterey County, California, about a week before the end of winter term classes at the Naval Postgraduate School (NPS). This turn of events was taken in stride. Students were a class or two away from their finals and, for the most part, could complete their remaining assignments from home. The pressing challenge was the looming need to deliver all of the spring term in-residence courses in an online format with less than three weeks’ notice. Although NPS has experience delivering content in a variety of venues, formats, and mediums, many faculty had to scramble to familiarize themselves with various “go-to meeting programs” and modify course content to fit these delivery modalities. No one had ever tried doing this before. In fact, no one had even suggested that it should even be attempted.
Glitches were common during the first couple of days. Nevertheless, by the end of the second week of classes, it was evident that the faculty and students had risen to the challenge and that NPS had several advantages that made the rapid shift to online learning possible. One advantage was an information technology infrastructure that could support thousands of “streaming” users simultaneously. Another was a tech-savvy student body with access to good internet connectivity and high-quality home computing. Winter graduates stuck in Monterey because of “stop-movement” orders also helped technologically challenged professors and coached new students by serving as informal teaching assistants in online classes. The oft-repeated concern that neo-Luddite faculty constituted the primary obstacle “to going online” also proved to be grossly inaccurate. The faculty never complained about the shift to online delivery, worked hard to master the new technology, and went to great lengths to ensure that the students stayed on track.
What was lost and what was gained in this quick shift to distance learning? There are a host of surveys being undertaken and metrics being created to answer that question and it will take time before the results are received and analyzed. Nevertheless, it is possible to offer a few observations about the crash distance-learning program launched by NPS and a new initiative that emerged from this experience—developments that would never have occurred in the absence of the challenge created by a national emergency.
In-Residence Graduate Education is Best
Learning is occurring despite the fact that classroom interaction is transpiring across an electronic medium. What is missing, however, are the second-, third-, and fourth-order opportunities for learning that take place naturally in the in-residence classroom setting. These opportunities occur as students discuss their lessons outside of class—going over difficult concepts, clearing up misperceptions, and identifying mistakes. The faculty recognized this lacuna and quickly arranged for chat rooms, “water cooler” events, and extra office hours. Nevertheless, the general assessment is that this kind of interaction is difficult to undertake online, and this assessment was supported by student and faculty opinion surveys administered during the spring quarter.
By contrast, in-resident student-to-student learning occurs naturally over lunch conversations, during walks across campus, or at the local watering hole. In addition, access to laboratories and secure facilities cannot be provided online. To allow laboratory research and the use of classified materials to continue, NPS went to extraordinary lengths to provide individual faculty and students with access to critical laboratories and secure spaces while maintaining social-distancing protocols.
Learning that is not part of the formal curricula also is lost. Is that important? Well, a student once told me that he was happy he attended NPS because it gave him an opportunity to learn about the Navy. The student was not talking about the latest strategy pronouncement or a new naval technology or operational scheme. Instead, he was talking about the very essence of the Navy itself—the chance to rub shoulders with Navy officers from different communities provided insight that was hard to come by in an operational setting. One also can expand that observation by noting that when your classmates also include Marines, Army, and Air Force officers, and students from allied and partner countries, opportunities abound to learn about “the force,” the whole-of-government and coalition team that usually swings into action during a crisis or conflict. This sort of learning opportunity is not only invaluable, it is relatively unique.
The successful transition to distance learning for the curricula at NPS raised immediate questions about making the transition permanent. Why not simply enroll officers at their duty stations and skip the rigmarole, to say nothing of the cost, of moving them for a year or two of study at NPS? Some observers might believe that the time has arrived to forego the “nice to have” experiences provided by in-resident graduate education. In asking this question, however, observers fail to realize that the emergency transition to distance learning at NPS involved synchronous classes to full-time students—students were in a position to devote at least 16 hours each week to online classes and at least another 40 hours to reading and study. Of course, one could deliver the same material in an asynchronous mode, but that would do little to ameliorate time requirements. If a student spent 25 percent of his or her time doing schoolwork, it would take approximately four years to complete a one-year in-residence course of study. Classified or laboratory work also would be problematic if not impossible, a real shortcoming at a time when Office of the Chief of Naval Operations (OPNAV) is highlighting the need for students and faculty to tackle the key operational problems facing the Navy and to integrate new technologies into the fleet. Online learning can save some costs—permanent change of station (PCS) to Monterey—but it will take about the same time online to cover the same course content.
It Boils Down to Time and Money
This recent foray into distance learning also highlighted the observation that educational debates in naval circles often boil down to issues of time and money. Admittedly, scholars and practitioners like to discuss curricula with an eye toward designing exciting learning experiences that will serve both the strategic needs of the Navy and the professional development of officers and enlisted personnel. The renowned strategist Colin Gray, for example, often waxed poetically about the contents of strategic and scientific education for officers and the best way to develop capable strategists. Nevertheless, Gray failed to realize that most officers lack the opportunity to get any relevant education at all.
Virtually all due-course officers lack the time in their operationally oriented careers for in-residence graduate education, and even if they did, the Navy lacks the resources to send more than a small percentage of them to school at any one time. The “time-money” constraint limits the number of officers who can benefit from the tailored in-resident education available at NPS.
Distance Learning is an Untapped Resource
The Navy’s recently promulgated Education for Seapower Strategy highlights the need to bring more education to the fleet, enabling the Navy to incorporate waves of emerging technologies faster into the fight than potential opponents. Courses in cyber warfare, artificial intelligence, robotics, or even more traditional engineering subjects are the order of the day. Nevertheless, the Navy simply lacks the resources to provide every officer with an 18-month in-residence experience in Monterey to earn a master’s degree. Under these circumstances, distance learning is the only way to provide this education to thousands of officers and senior enlisted personnel.
Although our experience suggests that it is not possible to replicate the in-residence experience online, with luck and hard work full-time students can complete similar online and in-resident programs at about the same pace. Therein lies the rub. Distance learning can eliminate the time and expense involved in PCS moves, but cannot address the need for time to actually complete a curriculum. Instead of focusing on offering graduate degrees online, Navy leaders should consider using new distance-learning technologies to reach officers who would benefit from a broadening education, but who lack the time to devote to full-time study. Lectures tailored to Navy requirements can be recorded and packaged with appropriate readings and study questions, not as an attempt to replicate the in-resident graduate experience, but as an effort to deliver information about critical subjects in an efficient manner. Asynchronous delivery can further reduce the burden on students, allowing them to review the materials when their work schedule permits. Obtaining a graduate degree online might be the holy grail of distance learning, but there are less ambitious goals that can be quickly reached with the expenditure of realistic amounts of time and money.
NPS is about to conduct a beta test of just this type of initiative within OPNAV and some Department of Defense agencies. The test is a course comprised of 18 40-minute lectures that introduce students to the rise of great power competition in the world today. Originally part of the in-resident curriculum, the course has moved entirely online—in-resident students at NPS who are still sheltering in place also will have the opportunity to take this asynchronous course online and receive one graduate credit for their participation. Once the results of the beta test have been assimilated, the course should be ready for the fleet by early 2021. The course might then be continually refreshed at about 18 month intervals—an interval typical of the refresh rate of college textbooks.
The Way Forward
Too much time is spent attempting to replicate the in-resident experience online. Instead, Navy leaders should think about distance learning as a way to bring knowledge to the fleet when it is impossible to meet educational demands through in-residence education. In other words, virtually everyone in the Navy would benefit from a “short-course” introduction to the topic of great power competition, but it is impossible to bring everyone in the Navy to NPS to take that course in residence. This is the niche where distance learning can really contribute.
Luckily, the Education for Seapower Strategy has positioned the Navy to take advantage of the distance-learning experience gained during the emergency shut-down caused by COVID-19. It now possesses a Deputy Chief of Naval Operations for Warfighting Development (N7) who is in a position to sponsor specific asynchronous short courses and more advanced graduate certificates for the fleet. These courses would not replace the in-resident experience, which should be expanded to the maximum extent possible. Nevertheless, distance learning can provide “subject-matter awareness” to thousands of officers and sailors who lack the time to devote to full-time graduate study.