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Effective Execution of Surveying laboratories in Distance Learning Using Local Mentors Vernon W. Lewis, Jr., John Rand Old Dominion University Norfolk, Virginia

Abstract

Surveying courses with laboratories are a curricular requirement of the Civil Engineering Technology Program (CET) since its inception. This course was taught traditionally as an on-campus class. Over the last ten years, the CET Surveying program has expanded to contain an extensive distance learning component, with at least half of the enrollment located off campus. The model for the typical distance-learning class is to meet for three hours, once a week, with a fully interactive (voice) live class. Laboratories for distance learning programs require resourceful planning. The distant students in the past traveled to the local campus for a weekend laboratory, but with the increased growth of the program, many students are located in other states, making travel for the weekend laboratories difficult.

In consideration of the demand of a growing distance learning system, it was decided to make the laboratory available to the remote students through the use of a local mentor. This paper will outline the preparation of the laboratory guide, the qualifications of the mentors, the success in locating mentors by students and a comparison of the local and mentored remote students' achievement of course objectives.

Introduction

A student aspiring to enter the surveying profession today faces a difficult dilemma regarding a four year college education. This dilemma revolves around the following factors1:

1) There are a very limited number of universities in the United States offering a four year Bachelor of Science in a surveying curriculum;

2) There is a small numbers of surveying Bachelor of Science candidates to support development of surveying programs as compared to other curriculum areas;

3) The limited number of surveying Bachelor of Science candidates are geographically dispersed;

4) The demographics of the candidates who are often older students already working and settled in a locale.

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Lewis, V. (2008, June), Effective Execution Of Surveying Laboratories In Distance Learning Using Local Mentors Paper presented at 2008 Annual Conference & Exposition, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. 10.18260/1-2--4384