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Session 1649

Expectations of On-campus and Remote Students in a Course in Civil Engineering Technology

V. W. Lewis, Jr. Old Dominion University

Abstract

Old Dominion University has developed an extensive distance learning system (Teletechnet) which includes over 21 remote community college sites and a total of 13 hospital, military and industrial sites. The course which instigated this paper is a course in Plans and Specifications. This course was taught on campus in its current format in the spring semesters of 1994 and 1995 and received favorable student evaluations. The first semester in which the course was taught on Teletechnet was the spring of 1996. The evaluations of the on-campus students were much higher than those of the off campus students. It was found that the professional interests and experiences of the remote students resulted in their not being sufficiently challenged or insufficiently motivated to work in an area not directly related to their interests. It was determined that the course content should be discussed in greater detail at the start of the course and that the students should be clearly advised that their professional or academic experience may permit them to challenge the course and receive credit by examination.

Introduction

Old Dominion University has developed an extensive distance learning system called Teletechnet which utilizes interactive, real time video. At the current time the Teletechnet system in the Commonwealth of Virginia includes three local sites which are considered part of the local Old Dominion University campus, over 21 remote community college sites and a total of 13 hospital, military and industrial sites throughout the state. A program is under way for the expansion of Teletechnet to serve other regions out of Virginia. In addition to Engineering Technology, areas of study include Engineering Management, Nursing, Education, Criminal Justice, Business Administration, Communications and Human Services. At each site, a Director is provided by Old Dominion University to assure proper advising and functioning of the program at the sites.

As the number of courses being offered via distance learning are expanded, consideration must be given to the continued development of these courses to ensure the proper learning experience for both on campus and remote students. The course which is the subject of this paper is a three semester hour course in the preparation of Plans and Specifications. The focus of the course is in two areas. The first is a study of the items that must be included in a set of plans, the methods of presenting the information and the order in which they should be presented. The second is a study of the principals and organization of a set of specifications, including the writing of specifications and the editing of standard specifications. Our CET program considers this class essential in order for our students to be able to produce competent plans and specifications as soon as possible following graduation. In our opinion, the best way to convey this technology is to have the students prepare a set of plans and specifications in a project format as part of the

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Lewis, V. W. (1997, June), Expectations Of On Campus And Remote Students In A Course In Civil Engineering Technology Paper presented at 1997 Annual Conference, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. 10.18260/1-2--6558