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Session xxxx

Electronic Conferencing for Faculty Continuing Development Russel C. Jones, Ph.D., P.E. World Expertise LLC and Bethany S. Oberst, Ph.D. James Madison University

Abstract

Many engineering faculty members in developing and emerging countries find it nearly impossible to participate in continuing professional development through attendance at major international conferences in their areas of interest. One mechanism to address this problem is the addition of an electronic conference component to major engineering education conferences, to allow distant participation in paper presentation and discussion by such faculty members. This paper describes two such electronic conferences, organized by the authors in conjunction with major international conferences – the 2001 annual meeting of the European Society for Engineering Education (SEFI) and the 2003 joint international conference of the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) and the World Federation of Engineering Organizations (WFEO). In each case, an electronic conference was run for several weeks before the live conference, with papers from distant engineering faculty members posted on a web site for discussion. Then a summary of the papers and the discussion was presented at a plenary session at the live meeting, with the session video taped with the intent of transmitting it back to the authors. In the case of the electronic conference held in conjunction with the WFEO/ASEE annual meeting, a summary paper of the plenary session was also produced for publication. Details of the process of organizing and conducting these electronic conferences are provided in the paper.

Introduction

The rationale behind an electronic conference is that engineering educators throughout the world need continued stimulation from colleagues in order to stay abreast of new developments in their field, and thus to stay relevant and up to date in their teaching. Active faculty members with adequate resources often accomplish this collegial interaction through participation in international conferences on engineering education, sponsored periodically by organizations such as UNESCO (United Nations Education, Science, and Cultural Organization), WFEO (World Federation of Engineering Organizations), SEFI (European Society for Engineering Education), and ASEE (American Society for Engineering Education), etc. Physical attendance at such conferences provides the positive benefit of face-to-face interaction with colleagues.

Proceedings of the 2004 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition Copyright © 2004, American Society for Engineering Education

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Oberst, B., & Jones, R. (2004, June), Electronic Conferencing For Faculty Continuing Development Paper presented at 2004 Annual Conference, Salt Lake City, Utah. 10.18260/1-2--12782