Effective Instruction Of An Online Engineering Course
- Conference
- Location
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Honolulu, Hawaii
- Publication Date
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June 24, 2007
- Start Date
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June 24, 2007
- End Date
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June 27, 2007
- ISSN
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2153-5965
- Conference Session
- Tagged Division
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Engineering Technology
- Page Count
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13
- Page Numbers
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12.579.1 - 12.579.13
- DOI
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10.18260/1-2--2965
- Permanent URL
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https://peer.asee.org/2965
- Download Count
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571
Paper Authors
Ronald Uhlig National University
Shekar Viswanathan National University
Dr. Viswanathan is a Professor and Chair of the Department of Applied Engineering and Lead Faculty for Engineering Management and Homeland Security and Safety Engineering. He is the Lead for six full time and fifty two adjunct faculty members. His department offers three undergraduate and six graduate programs and has a student population of three hundred students. Dr. Viswanathan is an educator, researcher and administrator with more than twenty-five years of industrial and academic experience encompassing engineering and environmental consulting, research and development, and technology development. His career experience includes teaching at the University level, conducting fundamental research, and developing continuing educational courses.
John Watson National University
Howard Evans National University
Abstract
NOTE: The first page of text has been automatically extracted and included below in lieu of an abstract
EFFECTIVE INSTRUCTION OF AN ON-LINE ENGINEERING COURSE
Abstract
On-line engineering education provides a flexible and accessible alternative for busy people who want to pursue higher education. Many higher educational institutions are increasing the visibility of their traditional programs by offering on-line options. Studies have shown that student participation and motivation is different for an on-line course. There are a number of positive attributes including: • Some students are independent learners and may be more productive on- line, • Some personalities are apt to participate more in class discussions if done on-line, in order to overcome the fear of speaking in front of peers, and • Motivated by busy schedule, students are able to complete coursework on their own time. However, questions have been raised whether on-line engineering instruction can be effective as face-to-face instruction. Many academicians debate whether on- line education can effectively communicate the essence of the lecture without compromising on quality. Recent advances made in on-line education, namely course designs, and on-line educational tools, offer a full range of interactive learning environments. More and more instructors have started adapting their courses to on-line models by implementing interactive instructional designs to their courses. As a result, the quality, quantity, and patterns of communication students practice during learning appear to be improving.
This paper discusses ways to instruct on-line engineering course effectively. This paper summarizes various on-line instructional strategies with well-defined pedagogic goals, incorporation of project-based learning concepts, implementation of interactive assessment techniques, and flexible live synchronous tutoring systems. Some of the new technologies that are becoming more prevalent in on-line environment include: • Remote labs where on-line students can participate in real-time hands-on physical experiments remotely, • Blogs/wikis – these tools may substitute for threaded discussion, and • Podcasting – several universities have augmented on-line courses by offering podcasts of discussions or lecture. Pertinent details such as ways to incorporate lecture, assignments and laboratory exercises are summarized. We distinguish between synchronous and asynchronous on-line teaching. The results of our research show that on-line, with some scheduled real-time voice conferencing compares favorably with
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Uhlig, R., & Viswanathan, S., & Watson, J., & Evans, H. (2007, June), Effective Instruction Of An Online Engineering Course Paper presented at 2007 Annual Conference & Exposition, Honolulu, Hawaii. 10.18260/1-2--2965
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