Airmen take class via iPod
Alamogordo Daily News
By Laura London, Staff Writer
Airmen at Holloman Air Force Base are the first people anywhere to have the opportunity to take college courses via iPods thanks to a New Mexico State University pilot program.
Victor Venegas, NMSU spokesperson, said the first class being offered through the pilot program is sociology.
"In fact, the name of the class is RSociology in a Sack,'" Venegas said.
Each iPod has 80 gigabytes of memory and comes preloaded with all of the class lectures, Venegas said.
"They get it in a Ziploc bag," said Dr. Rodger Bates, special assistant to the vice provost for outreach services at NMSU. Bates developed the iPod course.
"In the Ziploc bag comes the iPod, a protective rubber or skin, a battery charging unit, a belt clip and an admonition to take care of it," he said.
Bates said a course syllabus, instructions on how to use the iPod, a letter from Brig. Gen. David Goldfein and a packet of 16 sample quizzes, one for each chapter, so that students can gauge their progress through the course, are also enclosed with the iPod.
"And we stuck in there a little NMSU fact book and my business card, in case anyone wants to e-mail me from Afghanistan or Iraq," Bates joked.
He explained that troops in Iraq and Afghanistan have Internet access, but it is limited. Sometimes only one connection is available, and people use it to e-mail home.
"You can't take a course over the Internet when other people want to use it," Bates said. "And whenever there's a casualty in a region, they shut down the Internet, so that interrupts daily use."
Bates said the iPod class idea was first mentioned in August at a reception by Alamogordo's Committee of 50 for then-Colonel Goldfein when he first came to town. Bates, a member of the Committee of 50, asked Goldfein what the university could do to help support the base, to which Goldfein immediately replied that he would like to see distance education available on an iPod.
"This was Gen. Goldfein's idea," Bates said. "Really, I think he wants to help his troops and help the Air Force. He's very big on taking care of his people, and I think that shows. Plus he has a lot of good ideas.
"I just happened to be at the right place at the right time with the right question, and he had the right request," Bates said.
Bates talked to people he works with at the university and they also thought it was a good idea. Being a professor of sociology, Bates felt he could put something together very quickly. He said he worked with others at the university, including Dr. Paul Gutierrez, vice provost for outreach; Dr. Wendy Hamilton, a special projects director; and Sonja Serna, a technology specialist.
"She's (Serna) the one who showed me how to do all this stuff, and whenever I have a problem I call her," Bates said.
Once they figured out what was needed, Bates said he went to work Nov. 1 recording lectures. By mid-December he had them recorded, and over Christmas break he edited them.
"Sociology in a Sack" has all the requirements needed for accreditation standards, Bates said.
"The reason we did sociology (for the pilot program) is, it's one of the requirements of the Community College of the Air Force and it was something I could do," Bates said.
He explained that NMSU-A has, for years, provided general education core classes for CCAF at Holloman. CCAF requires airmen to have 18 hours of general education credits, and they need to be making progress toward a CCAF degree in order to get promoted. Because of the increased deployments, Bates said, airmen's courses are interrupted and they aren't able to get promotions when the time comes to reenlist, which tends to make them less likely to reenlist.
"So this is not only an education matter, it's a reenlistment matter," Bates said.
Airmen taking iPod classes are able to progress at their own pace, Venegas said. When they are able to, such as when they return from deployment, they can take their final exam to complete the course.
"The real unique thing about this is NMSU has been able to respond quickly, and we've operated pretty much directly to meet his (Goldfein's) needs," Bates said. "That's important because it's a land grant university, and one of the charges of being a land grant university is supporting the military. And we take that mission very seriously."
The pilot program started with 20 iPods and became available to Holloman personnel last week, Bates said.
He said Goldfein has expressed an interest in promoting the iPod class idea throughout the Air Force and other military branches.
"Holloman is a vital part of our community," Venegas said. "Our mission is to serve all of New Mexico, and this is a great way to get it done. We have troops putting their lives on the line, and this is a small thing we can do for them an extremely small sacrifice that we can do for them."
Bates said the general has asked him to develop a proposal for a number of courses. And Bates said the only two courses he's not recommending are English, because of the writing involved, and public speaking.
"It's a little hard to do that on an iPod," he said.
