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By GetEducated Consumer Reporting Team | August 03, 2009
As the giant USS Nimitz plows through the Pacific Ocean, onboard teacher Linda Beckham sits before her computer, hoping her Internet connection stays alive.
If not, she will lose contact with another set of military students she teaches—men and women stationed in Iraq, Kuwait and Afghanistan.
Beckham is both an online college instructor and a traveling teacher for Central Texas College. You will frequently find her on Navy ships like the Nimitz, conducting community college-level classes in English and pre-algebra with groups of sailors—who sometimes are so exhausted from their duties that they stand during class, for fear of falling asleep if they were to sit down.
When not teaching face-to-face, Beckham also teaches distance education classes, mostly to military students and spouses. Sometimes she runs the courses while at sea—meaning she has to deal with an unreliable and slow Internet connection that frequently has her staying up all night to get messages out to her students. Other times, she teaches her online classes from her home in Oklahoma.
"The phone will ring at 3 a.m. and my husband will say, 'Baghdad calling!'" says Beckham, laughing.
Beckham doesn't mind if her distance learning students call her from Iraq with their technical or academic problems. "After lunch in Iraq is the middle of the night in Tulsa," she explains. "That seems to be their time to call."
Beckham became an onboard military instructor after 9/11.
"My children were grown and I decided that was the thing I needed to do," says the retired public schoolteacher. Her husband—a former Marine—supported her, even though it meant she periodically left on eight-week tours of duty that have taken her halfway around the world, from Singapore to Bahrain to the Mediterranean.
Recently, Beckham accepted a promotion with Central Texas College, making her the West Coast Education Boss, assigned to the Nimitz. She continues to teach military distance education courses, as well.
"Teaching online is the only way I can get into the middle of Iraq and Afghanistan to help our military personnel," says Beckham. "The privilege to help is one that I can't make myself give up!"
Whether her students are online or with her at sea, a constant challenge for her as a teacher is their military service, which comes first.
Military students can be "working along, doing fine—but then they are pulled out" for assignment, which could take them away from class for a week or more, she says. Or, iffy Internet connections, especially for online military students in the field, can create technical problems she must step in and resolve.
For example, students taking exams are only allowed to access the test site once. "If there's a flicker in the electricity—which is frequent—it throws them offline," says Beckham.
Overall, she says, the most important trait for a military instructor—whether online or live —is flexibility, including the willingness to change deadlines for students when military tasks require their absence.
Beckham tries to engage her students by letting them pick what they wish to write about, which often reflects their unique concerns as people serving in the military, often far from home.
"I get all kinds of narrative and descriptive essays that come from the environment they are in," she says. "One of the best was a descriptive essay written by a Marine about what it was like to travel in a Bradley armored vehicle in the desert heat—what it was like in there, what they were thinking. It was absolutely brilliant."
The biggest danger Beckham has faced in her military travels is weather.
"I've been in extremely treacherous weather, where you couldn't even sit in a chair without being thrown out," she says. But she has never felt personally endangered, despite traveling all over the Middle East. The biggest hassle she's faced was a passport snafu in Bahrain, which was quickly resolved.
"Working for the military is the best experience I've ever had," says Beckham. "I am going to keep doing it as long as I can.”
I’m looking for an online MBA. I’ve found several that fit my budget but none are accredited by the AACSB. What is the AACSB? Do I really need a distance MBA degree that is accredited by them?
—Roberta, Gary, IN
The AACSB is the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business International. It is considered the gold standard of business school accreditation. But not every student needs an AACSB-accredited MBA...
I was laid off from my job as a real estate agent and want to be a high school math teacher, but my bachelor’s degree is in psychology. Do I need a new degree in education? Will an online bachelor’s in education qualify me to become a licensed teacher?
—Willis, Houston, Texas
If you didn’t earn a bachelor’s degree in education years ago and you now want to teach in the public schools, don’t fret. Every state maintains what are termed “alternative teacher certification” programs...
CTU's Institute for Advanced Studies is an innovative graduate school that takes advanced learning to a flexible new level, making graduate degrees ACHIEVABLE, PRACTICAL and REALISTIC. Study online, on campus, a combination of the two, days, nights, or weekends...however and wherever you choose. The Doctoral degree programs at CTU IAS include six residencies over 3 years. These four-day sessions are held on the CTU IAS campus in Colorado Springs every year.
Liberty University’s Master of Education- Early Childhood Program Specialist program prepares you for effective leadership in Christian, public, and private schools. Along with core courses, students will follow a robust program specialist curriculum focusing on early childhood development. Liberty University is NCATE accredited and provides outstanding quality education at the lowest tuition rate of leading online universities. See why LU Online has been ranked in the top 10 for two years in a row!
For active-duty military, reservists, veterans, and military families.
More than half of military students use online education. What do you need to know to find schools that best fit your needs? How can you find the best financial aid and scholarship package at your online school? Answers are here.
The field of online education is growing and so is the need for teachers who can teach online. Check out our regularly updated list of online job opportunities, post your job availability, and visit our Online Resource Center, with tips, advice and free downloads for online educators.
Facts from GetEducated's National Survey of Online MBAs. Who offers the cheapest online MBA? Do you need an AACSB-accredited distance MBA? Online MBA rankings and ratings. Everything you need to know to compare 390 accredited online MBAs from 168 online business schools.
I’m looking for an online MBA. I’ve found several that fit my budget but none are accredited by the AACSB. What is the AACSB? Do I really need a distance MBA degree that is accredited by them?
—Roberta, Gary, IN 
The AACSB is the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business International. It is considered the gold standard of business school accreditation. But not every student needs an AACSB-accredited MBA... 
