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The United States Army is an education-driven force. Whether you plan on a career in the Armed Forces or not, Army correspondence courses are available to prepare you for your future career.

The Army Correspondence Course Program (ACCP)

The Army Correspondence Course Program helps you keep your skills current and prepare for advancement in your military career. As you complete modules, you earn points toward promotion. Each module has several subcourses in it that you complete one at a time.

The Army Correspondence Course Program gives you training specific to your professional field. You can take courses for skill qualification development or to advance in your MOS, too.

eArmyU

eArmyU is a program that the Army sponsors that allows you to take college courses over the internet on your off-duty time. eArmyU helps you prepare for a future non-military career, or to simply take courses for your own personal interest and development.

Defense Activity for Non-Traditional Education Support (DANTES)

DANTES provides military personell with educational opportunities compatible with the military lifestyle. You can take career training or college courses through several different DANTES programs. DANTES is very cutting edge and innovative in the way education is delivered to deployed troops. They utilize traditional learning, satellite courses, e-learning, video, courses that you can download to a PDA and even Podcast classes.

Many colleges and universities are authorized to provide distance learning through DANTES. You can take specific courses that you need for degree completion, earn a college degree, or take vocational career training through DANTES sponsored educational providers.

Military lifestyle makes traditional education difficult. Your education can be interrupted at any time by deployment or transfer. The Army has educational programs to compensate for that by providing courses in a distance-learning format.

If you plan on continuing your military career you can prepare for promotion and advancement through the Army Correspondence Course Program. You can even enter the Green to Gold Enlisted Commissioning program by earning a degree and entering Officer Training.

If you do not plan on continuing in the military, you can prepare for a post-military career. Army correspondence courses will help you.

Disadvantages of Online Courses

Online learning has some disadvantages, too. Some people learn better in a traditional classroom. They need the live interaction with an instructor and other students. Online classes may try to simulate classroom interaction, but they cannot duplicate it.

In order to succeed at online learning, you have to have some specific skills. You have to be self-motivated, responsible for your own learning and have good time management skills. If you don't have those skills, traditional classes may be a better choice for you.

One huge disadvantage of online courses, especially if you are talking about e-learning grids and virtual educational communities, is accessibility. Not everyone has ready access to a computer with an internet connection. Without that access, online learning is hard.

Online education is so portable and flexible for so many people that it's easy to miss the disadvantages. If online education were the best choice for every person every time, we wouldn't need brick-and-mortar schools, would we? There are both advantages and disadvantages of online courses.