Remember those matchbook covers that offered "draw-me" scholarship contests? The "winner" then got to pay for art lessons from a correspondence school.

Distance education has come a long way since then. In the last decade, it has become a rapidly expanding way for many people to earn legitimate college degrees.

Distance learning works especially well for law enforcement professionals, whose schedules can be unpredictable and involve unanticipated overtime.

Just as officers often sacrifice attending important family events because of their work schedules, many have been restricted in their ability to attend traditional college courses, especially if they work rotating shifts. Having to work just one emergency situation can sometimes wipe out a semester's worth of work, forcing an otherwise good student to drop or fail a class.

Technology to the rescue
Distance learning has changed all that. The advent of the Computer Age has enabled education to be made available on an on-demand basis, rather than at a set time, in a set place. Distance education has actually been around since the 1940s, when broadcast, and later, cable television was used to deliver education. Later on, satellite teleconferences were utilized to link students in various places for unified instruction.

In the 1990s, the widespread acquisition of personal computers by individuals, combined with greater access to the Internet, brought distance education into a new era. In the period between September 2003 and January 2004 alone, distance education enrollment increased nearly 28 percent.

Education options
For law enforcement professionals, the options for distance learning are many. More than three dozen colleges offer certificate programs, or associate's, bachelor's, master's or Ph.D. degrees in criminal justice and related areas. (See "Finding distance learning colleges and verifying accreditation" on Page 89.) Some schools, like the widely advertised University of Phoenix or Charter Oak State College, provide only distance learning.

Others, like Keiser College, supplement their brick-and-mortar classes with online offerings. The Florida-based institution has offered distance education for 10 years, but began using an electronic platform in 1999. The number of distance learners has grown explosively, beginning with five students and rising to the present number of 2,300.

"We started offering criminal justice on campus six years ago," says Dr. Arthur Keiser, co-founder and chancellor of the Keiser Collegiate System. "We were a primarily technology-driven institution, and adapted the criminal justice programs to provide distance education. Then, with the events of 9/11, there was increased awareness and increased demand for these subjects by students," he adds.

Real-world experience
One of the hallmarks of distance education is instructors who have real-world experience in the subject matter. At Kaplan University, which offers both undergraduate and graduate online degrees in criminal justice as well as a certificate in private security, an overwhelming majority of the instructors have experience in addition to academic credentials.

"Almost 98 percent of faculty are current or former law enforcement," says Dr. Allen Lowery, Kaplan's undergraduate dean. "They've been judges, sheriffs, state troopers - they've been where you are. They can help you synthesize the knowledge. You don't find that in most seated campuses."

Kaplan's enrollment doubled in 2004. There are now 7,000 undergraduate online students.

According to Lowery, students enrolled in distance education courses receive as much, if not more, support than those in traditional classes. "Tutoring is provided on an individual basis by instructors and former students," he says. "An honors' fraternity Alpha Phi Sigma is also starting for our students."

Bellevue University in Bellevue, Nebraska, offers an accelerated criminal justice degree in both traditional and distance education formats. According to Professor Robert Cook, the director for the B.S. program in criminal justice, instructors bring a wealth of knowledge and hands-on experience to the table.

"Our adjunct professors are upper-level police personnel from all over the United States," Cook says. "We have a state police commander from Minnesota, police chiefs from Florida and Iowa, and county sheriffs from various places."

He is currently seeking a liberal defense attorney to add to the teaching staff. "It's important to provide a variety of perspectives and present a balanced view," Cook adds.

Bellevue's focus is on hands-on learning, even for distance education students. In the fiscal and strategic planning course, for example, the final project is a grant proposal students can use to obtain funds for their agencies.

Because the college's criminal justice program admits only upper-level (junior and senior) students who are working in the criminal justice field, the emphasis is on students sharing practical knowledge and learning how to synthesize the theories taught in class with their own experiences.

"When a patrolman in Worcester, Massachusetts, discusses policing with a deputy sheriff in Alabama, students are exposed to different perspectives," Cook points out. "We are preparing our students to be senior criminal justice professionals. We are training them to become our replacements down the road."

Convenience and discipline
While many people enrolled in distance criminal justice programs are seeking education prior to applying for jobs within the field, a number are working professionals. Distance learning allows them to shape their class and study time around work and family schedules instead of the other way around.

"Many of our students in law enforcement work swing shifts, and never know when they'll be called up for duty," Lowery points out. "They can study any time of the day or night, anywhere in the world."

Kaplan counts among its students a number of military police on active duty serving around the globe.

But while the convenience factor is a plus for distance education, self-discipline is the other side of the equation. Charles Marting, a police officer in Wiggins, Colorado, finds that keeping his commitment to his distance learning classes is easy.

Marting says, "I just need a little guidance, and I can work on my own. As a kid, I would have loved to have had this type of opportunity."

Classes require students be online for a 1-hour seminar at a specific time once a week. Beyond that commitment, they work on class assignments on their own schedules.

"I like it better than classroom education," Marting says. "I'm independent, and have good time-management skills. I've enjoyed distance learning and not felt burdened by it."

On the contrary, when Marting attended traditional classes, he found his work schedule, which was unpredictable, caused him to miss a lot of classes. "It's hard to justify spending all that money for the class and then not be able to attend," he points out. Marting maintains a 3.85 academic average at Kaplan.

When he attends conferences or is on vacation, his studies are as close as his laptop. Instructor support has been top-notch, too: "The instructors have been good," Marting says. "They're available by phone or by AOL Instant Messenger. One thing I really like is that every instructor has a background in the subject."

Adult learning styles
Deputy Chief John Ecuador of the Branford (Connecticut) Police Department found that distance education provided a way for him to finish his degree. DeCarlo brought his transcripts from nine colleges to Charter Oak State College, which helped him pull everything together and take the necessary courses to achieve his undergraduate degree.

"Once someone becomes an adult, the family takes precedence, and the job is demanding," DeCarlo says. "That leaves little time to pursue a traditional education. If you don't finish college by the time you're 24, it's difficult to go back to school."

With his varied educational background, DeCarlo is in a good position to judge the quality of both traditional education as well as distance learning. "The classes I took online are the equal to any class I've taken," he says. "The teachers know how to teach and have experience."

Adult learning styles are different from those of younger students, DeCarlo points out. "Adult learners have different expectations," he adds. "They need to have things explained, not just told to them. They can also integrate the lessons with life experience that a younger person doesn't have," he adds. "Charter Oak knows how to structure its courses for adult learners."

The International Journal of Instructional Technology and Distance Learning published a research paper that DeCarlo wrote as part of one of his online courses at Charter Oak. In his paper, he said distance learning students are an independent group high in confidence, with positive feelings of self-sufficiency and visual learning styles.

Online in Illinois
Director Alex Weiss of the Northwestern University Center for Public Safety says online training allows law enforcement professionals to be more efficient.

The center offers two online courses, one targeted toward new police supervisors and the other focused on accident investigation.

The first is an overview "of the kinds of tasks a new supervisor has to learn about, such as leadership, supervision, personnel, administrative, etc.," says Weiss.

The second online offering is the center's next generation in training. It previously has offered accident investigation correspondence courses, for which students would receive a textbook and then a course schedule to learn the book.

"What we're offering now is an online series of PowerPoint presentations which essentially replicates exactly what students do in the classroom during a two-week accident investigation course," explains Weiss.

It's a useful program, particularly, he says, for students from small agencies or those who are far from the Chicago area and can't afford to travel for the course.

The "principal advantage" of these courses, Weiss says, "is it significantly reduces the cost for training."

If a student came to Evanston, Illinois, where the center is located, for two weeks, it might cost approximately $150 to $200 a day in housing, food and transportation alone. "With our new accident investigation online course, a student gets essentially the same program in the convenience of their own home, at their own schedule," Weiss notes.

The supervision course has been a positive approach for agencies wanting to train a large number of personnel. The Ohio State Highway Patrol has made this course a requirement of its promotion process. "I think it's going to be a nice part of the police toolbox," says Weiss of the center's online offerings.

Movin' on up
Education is becoming more important in the criminal justice field, both at the entry level and for those who desire advancement. Some police departments require that applicants have at least 60 college credits, and some federal agencies won't consider candidates who don't possess at least a bachelor's degree.

In DeCarlo's department, officers are encouraged to pursue education with monetary incentives. "We pay for officers to get a bachelor's," DeCarlo says. "We give them up to $4,000 a year for education. Once they earn an associate's degree, they get an additional $300 in salary each year. They get $400 a year more for a bachelor's and $500 more for a master's."

Marting says that his department offers tuition reimbursement of up to $850 a year. Although the amounts departments pay toward education are typically small, most officers say they are interested in school for its own sake, or for the opportunity to advance in rank.

"I want to go into supervision," Marting says. He currently spends the school year as a school resource/D.A.R.E. officer. "A degree isn't required, but it will help."

But his main reason for pursuing a higher education is to be a better officer. "I want to enhance my career. Any type of education, especially when you're dealing with the public, will benefit you."