AFIT’s distance learning classroom allows faculty members to teach
the same content to in-resident and online students. (U.S. Air Force contributed photo)

This academic year, the Air Force Institute of Technology’s Graduate School of Engineering and Management reaches a major milestone: two decades of offering online graduate programs to Air Force personnel around the world. What began as a focused effort to meet a specialized need has grown into a myriad of online offerings that have broadened AFIT’s educational outreach and amplified its mission. 

In 2005, AFIT was not entirely new to distance learning. Both AFIT’s Civil Engineer School as well as its School of Systems and Logistics had been delivering online content for several years. But when the Graduate School launched its first online offerings – certificate programs in Systems Engineering and Measurement and Signature Intelligence (MASINT) – it marked the beginning of a new era. 

The initial push came from the space community, which needed more systems engineering expertise but lacked the ability to send full-time students to AFIT’s 18-month resident programs. The first cohort was based at Kirtland Air Force Base, but interest expanded to Los Angeles AFB and Peterson AFB, setting a tone for the rapid growth that would follow. 

From those early beginnings, the online footprint of the Graduate School grew quickly. By 2012, AFIT was offering four graduate certificates and two full master’s degrees entirely online. In 2006, fewer than 70 distance-learning (DL) students were enrolled in any given quarter. Just six years later, that number had quadrupled. By 2015, students from 44 Continental United States (CONUS) installations were participating in AFIT’s online graduate programs, along with remote learners stationed in Germany, Korea, Guam, and the United Kingdom. Then in 2019, the Graduate School crossed another major threshold, registering over 1,000 DL course enrollments in a single academic year. 

Delivering high-quality graduate education online is no small feat. Faculty must navigate the challenges of teaching part-time students in multiple time zones, often while those students balance demanding operational assignments. Success requires thoughtful instructional design, effective communication strategies, timely feedback, and creative ways to foster student engagement. Over the past two decades, nearly 200 faculty members from the Graduate School have contributed to online education at AFIT, ensuring continuity and academic rigor across all programs.

Today, the Graduate School offers three online master’s degree programs – one in guidance, navigation, and control, and two in systems engineering – along with nine online graduate certificates. The most in-demand programs focus on systems engineering, test and evaluation, data analytics, and nuclear weapons, effects, policy and proliferation. Over the past five years, these programs have served hundreds of students, with over 200 graduate certificates and more than 20 degrees awarded annually. 

AFIT’s commitment to online education has not only increased accessibility for Air Force professionals unable to attend in-residence programs, but it has also strengthened the Institute’s role as a vital provider of defense-focused graduate education. As the Graduate School marks twenty years of online learning, it reaffirms its dedication to innovation, excellence, and service – both on its Wright-Patterson campus and beyond.

AFIT’s Graduate School of Engineering and Management (GSEM) provides in-residence and distance learning graduate degrees and certificates in engineering, applied science, mathematics and management. GSEM provides its students with several significant advantages, including a more personalized educational experience, academic programs with a defense-related focus, and research on high-priority defense problems.  

About AFIT
AFIT is located at Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio. AFIT’s mission is to educate defense professionals to innovatively accomplish the deterrence and warfighting missions of the USAF and USSF. AFIT’s vision is to lead defense-focused education, research and consultation to accelerate military superiority across all domains and is accomplished through operationally relevant advanced academic education, research, and professional continuing education. For more information, please visit the AFIT webpage https://www.AFIT.edu/ or contact the Graduate School of Engineering and Management at AFIT.EN.Outreach@us.af.mil.