Air War College - Distance Learning

[Shuman 14]

So, I just got an e-Services notification that my promotion to Lt Col, based on my military service, is pending approval.

As soon as it is approved, I plan on enrolling in the Air War College - Distance Learning Program. I was hoping to find someone with recent experience with the program who was willing to share their thoughts here so I can get an idea of what is ahead. I searched CAP Talk and found a thread from 2009, while helpful, it is dated. Any more recent info would be appreciated. Thanks in advance for your time and attention.
 

[tom22]

I got this info from somebody I asked in Nov 2019,  so it may be a bit dated.  He said......

"There are 9 courses in AWC. I started in mid 2017 and somewhat took my time. Completing all courses at the end of September this year.

6 courses are self paced, with writing assignments to upload and test to take online. some tests have an unlimited number of retakes, however a key elective will only allow two takes and if failed a second time the student has to select another elective and start over.  Once enrolled in a single self paced course you have 4 months to compete that course. There appeared to be less graded writing assignments in AWC than was the case with ACSC.  Often submitted writing assignments in the self paced courses were pulled back up and used in the collaborative courses where you have the opportunity to receive additional input and the opportunity to revise before they are graded.

3 are collaborative courses with an instructor and up to fifteen or so students (most are Lt Cols in the AF or sister services). There is much posted discussion between instructor and fellow students. Two of these courses are 3 weeks in length and the final one is 4 weeks in length. This final class requires completion of a group authored paper and a good deal of working together with your assigned group. For this final class my group set up weekly conference calls. Two of us were on the East Coast, one on the west coast, one was in Japan and one was deployed to the sandbox.

You are allowed five years to complete AWC start to finish.
 Overall I enjoyed AWC better than ACSC. I am not sure it is easier but AWC is more focused on building a better strategic leader who relies on the full body of their ongoing education as well as their own experiences. AWC has slightly less formal written papers than ACSC.  Total predicted hours of work for AWC is 200 +/-. Whereas ACSC was 250 +/-.

When taking the facilitated/collaborative courses I never tried to pretend my background and experiences matched my Air Force brother and sisters. I often outlined how I addressed leadership issues in the CAP context or from the context of my professional career.  During facilitated courses the instructor often backed up my views and other students often followed my lead. I believe I made the top score among my course classmates in "Applied Senior Leadership". I used CAP experiences as the bases for most of my input and the instructor comments to me expressed how much my CAP experiences should benefit the other students, some of whom were Lt Col's in the AF with less operational and organizational leadership experience than I had. 

I said all of the above not to point to me. But to say as a CAP leader you have nothing to be ashamed of when you match your experiences with theirs.  I am glad I jumped in and started AWC and I am very happy to have completed it. I considered it very worthwhile and time well spent."

 

[Shuman 14]

Tom22, thank you for the information above. That was helpful.