Online Learning is Possible Even Another Country

Saben Strode’s family has a lengthy connection with the U. S. armed forces. Both parents proudly served—his father in the Army and his mother in the Air Force. Himself a platoon leader of field artillery in the Army, with hopes of soon pinning the captain’s double silver bars to his uniform, Strode used a combination of governmental tuition support and the University of Arkansas’ W.E. Manning Memorial Scholarship to fund an online Master of Science in Engineering Management, all while operating in South Korea.

In addition to the degree he anticipates being awarded in early 2025, he is also studying for a graduate certificate in project management, which he hopes to use after he exits the military with the intention of seeking a civilian position in construction.

“I love project management,” Strode said. “I did a lot of it in my undergrad. I did an internship with a construction company in Atlanta where I worked on a 21-story student condo across from Georgia Tech. I loved doing that, so it made me more interested in doing the project management certification. So far, they’ve been some of the best classes I've done at U of A. As a platoon leader, everything we do is a unique project. You never know what's going to happen. Different people, different mission sets, different environments. I'm able to use the skills I've learned from project management to best set up my timeline and path for each essential project I'm given as a platoon leader.”

A native Arkansan, born in Mountain Home and raised in Jonesboro, Strode, 25, earned his undergraduate B.S. in Engineering Management while at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, New York, where he appeared on the Dean’s List, then went on to rank in the top 25 percent at Basic Officer Leaders Course at Fort Sill, Oklahoma. While on an operational deployment to Camp Casey in South Korea from July 2023 to April 2024, Strode began coursework on his master’s degree despite every challenge tossed his way—everything from his work schedule and duties as a platoon leader to a 14-hour time difference.

Being from Arkansas but having obtained his undergraduate degree in New York, Strode wanted to strengthen his ties back to Arkansas. When he decided to obtain a graduate-level education, the only option available to him was online. With full awareness of the difficulties he would face, Strode—a big Razorback fan—applied to and was accepted at the University of Arkansas. Online learning, for Strode, was easily accomplished, for the most part, especially as most of the classes were asynchronous, meaning the weekly lectures and assignments were available to view at whatever time was convenient to the student.

“I can find time after work or on the weekends to complete the assignments,” he said. “The challenges really arose with the group project classes. If I had to meet with group members to get some projects done, we had to find times that would work for everyone, but three out of four people were around Arkansas, so it ended with me waking up around 3 a.m. a couple of times a week to meet up with the group, usually in Teams. Some sacrifices were made timewise but being online and asynchronous really helped out with me being international.”

Another obstacle to Strode’s educational efforts was his responsibilities as a serving officer in the army. His duties frequently varied according to whatever missions or projects were assigned to his unit on any given day. His unit often would spend days or weeks out in the field, which forced him to find creative and forward-thinking ways to coordinate around that.

“Being in the military is just busy,” he said. “You never know what each day is going to look like, especially in a deployed environment. I wasn't always able to go home or back to the barracks room I was staying in to do work. I had to ask, ‘Do I need to bring a laptop out to the field? Do I need to try and get a week or so ahead of schoolwork by really doing a lot over the weekend?’ It's not a nine-to-five or scheduled job. Our hours are all hours. On average, I was busy between 5:00 a.m. to about 6:30 p.m. each day. It was a time constraint of trying to fit in schoolwork in between what I was needing to do workwise.”

His advice for anyone interested in learning online, whether the university is across town or half a world away, is to think about the best ways that each person learns and build on that skill from the beginning. Learning online, according to Strode, is different than learning in person. Students won't have the immediate resource of a professor right beside them, but it is still “doable.”

“If you are a working professional trying to do school on the side and not give up whatever work life you have right now,” he said, “online schooling is very available for you, especially if you can read through the textbooks, go through the PowerPoint slides and watch lecture videos or find YouTube examples for anything that you need to supplement your instruction. It's very doable.”

Since applying for the W.E. Manning Memorial Scholarship, Strode has been restationed back to Fort Sill, where he continues to serve as a platoon leader with a multiple launch rocket system battalion. Being an active duty officer in the military, Strode’s options for financial assistance at the graduate level are extremely limited, as each course paid for by the government incurs an additional two-year obligation to remain in service.

“[The Manning Scholarship has] definitely helped out a lot,” he said. “I am trying to transition out of the military and aim to become some type of project manager at a corporate level with a construction company once I'm out. I have about two years left, so I didn't really want to extend anymore, which means I had to find my own way to pay out of pocket. My wife is completing a doctorate degree which has already generated an abundance of student loans, so being awarded the W.E. Manning Scholarship has been a huge burden off my chest. I can pay my own way through school without having to incur extra debt.”

Strode is one of 33 recipients of the W.E. Manning Memorial Scholarship for online U of A students for the 2024-2025 academic year. The scholarship began with small gifts from many people who passionately believe in the transformative power of education. It was created in 2018 to financially assist students who are enrolled in undergraduate and graduate online degree programs.