Return to Waldens

Last night, after a two year absence, I’ve returned to work at Walden Books, where I worked for about a year while in college. I didn’t leave on the best of terms in my mind. Two of my best friends who worked with me had just been fired. I’d just graduated college, lived at home and wasn’t making much money, and I was often paired with a dull woman whom I couldn’t stand. The Norwich University job was a welcome change, one that I’ve never regretted taking. I still stopped by the bookstore regularly – I still had a couple of friends who worked at the branch, and because Borders was kind enough to continue to send coupons via their rewards program, I had a good incentive to shop there.

The past year, I’ve missed working at the bookstore – a bit. When I first worked at the store, I had a very positive outlook on just how a bookstore would be, and that lasted for a little while, before it became a form of hardened cynasism – the bookstore wasn’t a place of books, it was a store, one with goals, objectives and key items that needed to be sold. Rewards cards had to be checked, signed up and logged, drawers had to be counted over and over again, and the customers take on an attitude that we’re not there to help them, we’re there to serve them. Thinking back, I wasn’t sure why I really missed working there.

Stepping back behind the register desk, going up to customers and everything came flooding back when I went back last night. I actually remembered my old store code, how to work the register, and everything that I really needed to know to start up again. The Berlin Mall hasn’t changed from an employee’s point of view. The same customers walk up and down the hallway, the food is still just as greasy and bad as I remembered it. Essentially, almost nothing has changed.

But, returning there, I realize just how much I’ve changed in the meantime. My entire view of customers, the business process and the book industry has changed as a result of my work at the bookstore and the ensuing years of different customer service sort of work, as well as how I think about problems and approach solutions, for the better, I think. I still anticipate customer problems, but I’m far more confident in myself and how I work that I can address these sorts of things in a much better and more mentally-stable fashion. That’s the plan anyway.

Making the Grade

Through my work here at Norwich, I have a somewhat unique perspective on the online education field, as I am both a participant through the Masters in Military History program, but also working as an administrator for it. Something interesting came across my desk a while ago, a request for interview subjects from MOAA (Military Officer’s Association of America), who wanted to speak with some of the officers in our program, to see what their perspective on the online program was. So, I e-mailed everyone and we got a good response. The article just went live, and it’s interesting to see not only Norwich University well represented, but I was alluded to by one of my classmates. Here’s the article:

Making the Grade
By Latayne C. Scott — July 24, 2008 More than two-thirds of American colleges and universities now offer online courses, and information provided by eLearners.com shows 62 percent of employers say the value of an online degree from an accredited school is equal to — or superior to — a traditional college degree.

Why? Because, although “cyberstudy” offers flexibility, it demonstrates initiative and great self-discipline.

Advantage No. 1: Convenience

Juggling work, military commitments, family, and a side career of breeding Tennessee Walking horses hasn’t kept Lt. Col. Nancy Cantrell, USAR, from pursuing a degree online. “You can fit your studies into your schedule and . . . you can study from home,” says Cantrell, who is pursuing a master’s in military history (MMH) from Norwich University in Vermont.

Also pursuing the same degree from Norwich is Maj. Craig Grosenheider, USA, who says, “I did not have time to attend night school — and was not interested in the programs or schools available locally anyway. Moving was not an option, and I was not able to take advantage of a fully funded graduate school program during my time on active duty. The online program offered the degree I wanted, from an institution I respected, in a format I could manage — easy decision.”

But not all active duty military officers who pursue online degrees focus on military subjects. Capt. David Leaumont, USAF, says he “didn’t want to just fill the ‘master’s’ check box in my [personal readiness folder].” Leaumont hopes to write, teach, and work in a church after retirement. But his local seminary required full-day attendance three days a week. “That’s an impossibility for [an Air Force] officer,” says Leaumont. “The only way I could get a master’s from a seminary program was to go online.”

Advantage No. 2: The world as your campus

Lt. Col. Donald R. Emerson, ARNG, is seeking a master’s degree in terrorism and counterterrorism at exclusively online Henley-Putnam University. He cites the institution’s accreditation and military tuition assistance requirements, but the clincher was he could study anywhere. “I travel too much to attend a traditional program,” says Emerson. Others, such as Norwich student Maj. William O’Brien, USA, laud the rich, diverse nature of online classmates. “We have students in California, Ireland, and, in my case, Iraq,” says O’Brien. “Some have civilian backgrounds, some military, some academic, and we even have a B-movie actor that has decided it’s time for a change of pace.”

Advantage No. 3: Cyberspace camaraderie

Lt. Lawrence “Mac” McKeough, USN-Ret., just completed his master’s in public administration through American Military University. W.Va. As a retired officer, he found the interaction with active duty students stimulating — as does Cantrell, who shares photographs with fellow students to reduce the impersonal nature of cyberspace.

Capt. Daniel J. Kull, USA, wanted to study at a traditional campus but knew he would be deployed to Iraq for 15 months and wanted to “get a jump on a master’s degree.” Kull found fellowship with a Norwich MMH major and fellow movie buff. “During our online discussions, we often drop movie quotes into our academic postings,” says Kull. “It is amusing when I am reading something he wrote, and I recognize a line from ‘The Big Lebowski’ or something.”

Advantage No. 4: Benefits beyond the diploma

Getting a degree online requires some proficiency with computer technology. That will pay off in other ways, says Norwich student Capt. David Weber, USA. “An understanding of other applications of technology directly helps . . . [because of] the rate at which technology is advancing in the military.” Another Norwich MMH student, Capt. Christopher Center, USA, has reaped a different kind of bonus from his studies. Armor magazine published an article based on one of the papers Center wrote in his first seminar online.

Most people take an online degree with the idea of qualifying themselves for something in the future. But Norwich MMH student Vice Adm. James A. Sagerholm, USN-Ret., isn’t looking toward a future in the Navy. At 80 years old, he finds it “amusing and ironic” that one of his classmates, a 2002 graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md., is exactly 50 years behind his own graduating class. After graduating, this articulate man would like to write a book, possibly about Navy founders John Barry and President John Adams.

If the convenience of a work-at-your-own-pace online college education sounds appealing, keep in mind there also are a few aspects of an online education some might consider disadvantages.

Disadvantage No. 1: The nature of online coursework

Some students find online coursework more strenuous than a traditional course.

“You’ve either read the material and done the work, or you haven’t. This is especially evident due to the necessity of written communication,” says O’Brien. “You can’t roll the dice and hope you’re not called on in class, and you can’t tank an assignment and figure that you’ll make it up in class participation.”

Though O’Brien cites the difficulty of absorbing academic materials when he reads late at night, daytime study can bring another kind of difficulty, according to Sgt. 1st Class Douglas Urbanek, USA-Ret., who currently works at U.S. European Command Headquarters in Stuttgart, Germany, while pursuing a Norwich MMH. “I spend about 20 hours on the weekend doing course work, and that’s hard to do when the sun is shining outside.”

Disadvantage No. 2: Impersonality

One issue that is difficult for many online students is they usually never get to meet their professor face-to-face. McKeough cites the disappointment he felt after working hard on a paper and getting it back with the sum total feedback “agro-terrorism is all about money.”

And sometimes the increased interaction with other students can be unpleasant, as Lt. Cmdr. Stanford Fisher III, USN, observed when “liberal-minded” students without military experience voiced “heated” opinions in discussion rooms. In addition, Fisher notes — as do almost all online students — the insufficiency of “cyberdiscussions” to convey a tone of voice or other nonverbal clues.

Disadvantage No. 3: Juggling priorities and finances

The difficulty of integrating a college education into an already full life is extremely difficult for most — and impossible for some. Boatswain Mate 1st Class Keith W. Underhill, USN-Ret., graduated with a bachelor’s in business management from what he characterizes as the “military-friendly” University of Phoenix — but only after cancelling his online classes. “It was not my style of learning,” he says, and was happy to learn the university offered on-campus classes in his area.

“Some instructors require you to work in teams, which is very difficult when you have people all over the world in different time zones,” says Capt. Sandra Davis, USAF, who is nonetheless enthusiastic about her master’s in management and leadership from Webster University. Davis also notes her online studies are more expensive than a brick-and-mortar facility, and “you probably won’t have the opportunity to sell books back at the end of the semester.”

Disadvantage No. 4: The world as your campus

Finally, for all its flexibilities, online education has its challenges abroad.

1st Lt. Richard Ingleby, USA, recalls “I was writing a response to a discussion question, and I swear, every … bug in Afghanistan decided that night to fly into my face or computer screen, since it was pretty much the only light on in the whole FOB [forward operating base],” says Ingleby. “I just remember thinking how this was definitely not your normal educational setting back at the university library.”

After weighing the advantages and disadvantages, is an online education right for you?

Article Source

It’s a decent enough article – I did pick out a couple of spelling mistakes, which is odd, but for the most part, it’s largely on track with it’s view of advantages and criticisms. The only thing that I really took issue with was the jab at liberal students without military experience – I don’t see this as a drawback, and while the online format does eliminate verbal and visual cues, there are ways around it. Liberal opinions aren’t wrong opinions, any more than conservative ones. It’s just different. This is one reason why I don’t like tying myself down to any one belief, because it’s incredibly limiting.

Random Stuff

• I’m liking this blogroll application that Blogger has allowed to be added to blogs. There’s been a bunch that I’ve tracked over the years, but this lays them out in a neat manner, and arranges them according to when they’ve been updated, via RSS Feed. I’ve grouped the history ones, people I talk to, Authors I follow and my other two blogs (501st and Music) together to make things easier for me.

• Residency is here at Norwich University. I’ve been back and forth between campus, working extra hours while all of our students have been here. It’s been interesting thus far. I’ve sat in on one presentation, Explorations in Military Effectiveness, which was facinating, and I’ll write up something about it at some point.

• Did a troop at the Montpelier Kellogg-Hubbard Library with our newest Vermont storm trooper, Mike, which went pretty well. Details here.

• I get to see José González tomorrow night at the Higher Ground! So excited to see him in person, finally.

• Anna’s coming up on Friday for the weekend and a couple days. Can’t wait for that.

• George Carlin died yesterday, at the age of 71, from heart failure. Undoubtedly, he would have something funny to say about it.

75th SMH Conference

I’m currently at the 75th Society for Military History conference out in Ogden Utah, which is pretty interesting thus far. Society for Military History is the big, official group of military historians, and I’m here because of my position at Norwich University. Dr. Ehrman, our program director and Dr. Broom, out assistant program director (and incidentally, my instructor for Seminar 1) are both presenting something on the nature of online graduate schools, which is later on today.
What was really cool was that I got to meet a number of instructors in the various programs that I administrate: Dr. John Broom, Dr. Dennis Showalter, Dr. Mike Wadyko, Dr. Kevin McCraine, Dr. Joyce Sampson, Dr. John House, Dr. Sanders Marble, Dr. Antulio Echevarria, Dr. Kelly Devries, Dr. Doug Peifer, Dr. John Kuen, Dr. John Votaw and a couple others. Really great to meet them all.

I’ve attended a couple of panels already, some very interesting:

Military Support to Civil Authority: From Pax Britannica to Hurricane Katrina
This was an interesting one, about the ways that the US military has approached disaster relief, through three examples – The first paper was called In Support of the Civil Power, by John Beeler, University of Alabama. This looked at how the British navy was involved with non-military roles and how they focused on police actions, such as anti-piracy, relief for Ireland and a bunch of other things.
The second paper was on the 1906 Earthquake in San Fransisco (ironically 102 years to the day): In Support of Civil Power, by Charles Bylar, Carroll College. This one discussed several legal issues that arose – after the earthquake, a local military commander ordered his troops into the city and placed them under command of the mayor, to help evacuate people, prevent looting and rioting. This was a completely illegal action, and it’s thought that a number of people died as a result of this, although there was little public outcry at the time.
The last paper was entitled The Air National Guard’s Response to Hurricane Katrina by David Anderson, Air National Guard History Office, which focused on how the Air National guard was able to supply and evacuate hurricane victims, which was not as interesting to me.

The second panel that I attended was called Nationalism and British Military History, 1850s to 1914, which I found really fascinating. The three panelists were a lot younger, and there was a different dynamic to the presentations.
The first paper was Moral Militarism in Victorian and Edwardian Britain by Stephen Shapiro, Ohio State University, which looked at volunteer militant forces and the fear of French invasions of England, and a number of trends associated with that. This one was interesting, as it highlighted some interesting aspects to the way the British public and the army interacted, or didn’t interact.
The second was a paper by Kate Epstein, called Torpedo Development in Victorian Britain, which seemed a little scattered, but mainly looked at political developments and the development of the British Military during this era. The last paper was Nation, Identity and Conflict: British Popular conceptions of War and Martial Service in the Summer of 1914 – this one had a lot to do with the upcoming first World War, and a fairly dramatic public shift in opinion of military service from it being the lowest occupation to a highly thought of one.

I’m looking to hit a couple others later on today after Lunch, What Good is an Educational Philosophy if it doesn’t get your heart racing, about online graduate studies, and Nothing but Blood and Slaughter: The Southern Tory/Whig conflict in the American Revolution. There’s also a banquet later on that I’ll be at.

One of the highlights thus far was meeting up with members of the Alpine Garrison for dinner last night, which was an absolute blast – got to meet several people, including the LCO, Mark Fordam, which was neat. I’ll probably talk about that on my trooper blog at some point.

Also, there’s a ton of booksellers here, and they’ve really discounted their books. I’ve gotten the following:

The Big Red One, by James Scott Wheeler, about the 1st Infantry Division from WWI through Desert Storm.
Western Warfare 1775-1882, by Jeremy Black – this and the next are about military theory in the West (Europe and US)
Warfare in the Western World 1882-1975 by Jeremy Black (Both by him signed)
The Great Uprising in India 1857-58, by Rosie Llewllyn-Jones
Gathering at the Golden Gate: Mobilizing for War in the Philippines, 1898, Stephen D. Coats

More Later…

Statement of Intent

So, I’m enrolled in grad school now – Masters of Military History at the Norwich University School of Graduate Studies. I’m excited. This is why I want to do this:

It is my intention to complete the Masters in Military History program to fulfill several personal and professional goals in life. While participation in the School of Graduate Studies is a requirement for employment, the Military History program is closely in line with my own personal interests, while the online format will provide valuable experience for the various directions that education will trend towards in the future.

When I was in high school, I picked up a book about the Attack on Pearl Harbor after watching a film about the attack, to see what was historically accurate. This led to other books about the second World War, about the Pacific Theater, D-Day, and more, sparking an interest in history that would lead my interests into other parts of world history and to achieve a degree in the subject from Norwich University.

It was at Norwich University that my interest in history matured to the point where I could find a career and livelihood. During my senior year at the school, I started a research project on the Norwich University alumni who fought in Operation Overlord, completing a paper and a chapter of Norwich history. Shortly after the paper was finished, I was able to travel to Normandy to tour the battlefields, which has only further cemented my interest in military history.

During my career at Norwich, as an undergraduate, I tried to distance myself from most aspects of military history because of the over-enthusiastic interest from my classmates, and the desire to study other aspects of history that were relatively untouched and therefore, new. From that background, I was able to approach my study in a far better way, in context and in depth.

I plan to take my studies at Norwich as further refinement of my methods and knowledge in the field for the future – I intend to obtain a PhD in history, and I have found that military history is a field that is particularly useful in the field, as there are a number of influences in the peripheral subjects. Indeed, with a subject that deals with such confusing and convoluted subject matter, study of it makes for excellent practice and a better understanding of the world in which we live.

Random Stuff

I have Heroes on DVD, a paycheck, the Takeski Kovacs Trilogy in Trade paperback, a cell phone on the way, a real job and a new friend. Life is finally good.

SGS / MMH

Second day on the job. I’m currently on my lunch break, and I’ve started getting more intigrated with the program a bit, easing into life here.
The school’s issued me a laptop to use (which I’m using right now), which is pretty spiffy. I’ve got a desk, phone, no phone number yet, and a bunch of random items to work on. I’ll be getting new tasks later on as the weeks go on a bit, and I’m looking forwards to it.

And, I’m seeing Grace Potter and the Nocturnals later on tonight, a special show that Pure Pop is doing, which should be pretty cool. I’ll have to remember my camera. And hope that my car stops smelling like a skunk. I think I clipped one on the road last night.

New Job!

I haven’t mentioned this at all, because I wasn’t sure, but I just got the call earlier this morning, so now I know. I’m getting a new job. Norwich is hiring me for their online master’s degree school, and I’m going to be an assistant director there in the Master of Arts in Military History division. To say that I’m excited is an understatement. I’ve been unhappy with Walden Books for a little while now, and recently, two of my friends were fired, which has made my time there a bit worse. However, I’m not going to worry too much about it for now, because … New Job!

Weekend & Bitchy Authors

Eric came back from Pennsylvania on Thursday, and after a mishap on Friday, (when this happened), we got together on Saturday, at the Alchemist in Waterbury. Good pub, I’d love to hit that up again in the future, but there’s not a whole lot of people to go out drinking and eating with, now that I’ve graduated and everybody’s left Vermont.

This week, I’m working again, and will finally be able to start paying off bills. My hours are up, and my car now has new brakes, which were really needed. Tuesday, I’m headed up to Abnaki, where I’m going to present on the history (Which I’ve been researching all day) and will hopefully get finished in a bit. I’ve essentially got a timeline of events, and I’m going to compare it to various world events and events in the history of camping. I’d love to do some more work on this, and actually get a good comprehensive history on Camp written down – there’s a lot of information, and the last fairly comprehensive history only goes up to the 1930s or so. Maybe there’s some grants somewhere that I can apply to.

Work, work, work.

My hours at Walden Books have gone up because we lost one of our staff members. Not entirely sure of the reasons, but I have my own guesses. Effectively, there’s three of us to run the store, while we have a replacement manager until this weekend until our regular, Jess, comes back from maternity leave, and we’ve still down someone until another staffer comes back from Africa.
And, I got a call from Camp about an hour ago, asking if I can do the historical presentation for the staff training. While I’m a little annoyed at not being asked back, my rage has subsided to something more useful, and if I can, I will, because I’m still attached to the place. Hopefully, I’ll be able to convince Jon to start a research project on the place and work on a history of the place like I’ve wanted for the past couple of years.