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Session 3550

DELIVERING TECHNICAL EDUCATION THROUGH INTERACTIVE DISTANCE DELIVERY INSTRUCTION 1 Austin B. Asgill, 2G. Thomas Bellarmine Southern Polytechnic State University1/ Florida A&M University2

Abstract

Despite the recent downturn in the nation’s economy, the demand for well-trained engineers and technologists who are prepared to make immediate contributions to the industry continues to be at an all time high. Recent innovations in communications and networking technology have produced an explosion of distance delivery methods and techniques. This has provided academic institutions with the much-needed opportunity to reach remote audiences with their program offerings. Many educational institutions have become engaged in delivering their technical courses to remote locations within the country in order to try to meet the high demand for graduates.

This paper will discuss the efforts undertaken at Florida A&M University (FAMU) to deliver the upper division courses of its Electronic Engineering Technology (EET) curriculum to its satellite campuses within the state of Florida. The preferred means of delivering its technical courses that has been chosen by FAMU is through the use of compressed video with taped backup in an interactive instructional setting. A review of established distance delivery techniques reveals that the use of compressed video and the Internet are the most prevalent techniques employed by academic institutions throughout the nation. It appears, however, that interactive classroom instruction via compressed video is the preferred means of delivery for highly technical content. The experiences gained at FAMU through this program will be discussed.

I. Introduction

The demand for well-trained engineers and technologists who are prepared to make an immediate contribution to the industry remains high despite the recent downturn in the once booming economy. With the recent and ongoing advances in telecommunication technology, academic institutions have been provided with the much-needed opportunity to reach remote audiences with their program offerings. In many parts of the country, there are pools of engineers and technologists who are already employed in industry and who, due to their employment, are place bound at remote locations away from a university setting. Many of these individuals seek to further their education in order to advance their careers. These are the audiences that are mainly targeted by these higher education institutions. It is not, however, possible for many of these

“Proceedings of the 2003 American Society of Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition Copyright © 2003, American Society for Engineering Education”

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Asgill, A. (2003, June), Delivering Technical Education Through Interactive Distance Delivery Instruction Paper presented at 2003 Annual Conference, Nashville, Tennessee. 10.18260/1-2--11508