Continuing engineering education through distance learning

Exploring staff attitudes to distance learning – what are the opportunities, challenges and impacts on engineering academics and instructional designers

“…The promise of increased flexibility and expanded reach achieved through transitioning to distance learning does allow institutions and academics great opportunities for applying new pedagogical techniques and providing innovative instruction (Hunt, et al, 2014). The extended reach of providing education at a distance also allows access to new student populations (Baukal, 2010). This expanded pool of potential students include those who cannot take time away from work, and those who are tied to a particular geographic location beyond that of the host institution (Kosak, et al, 2004).…”

“…Institutional Student (Hunt, et al, 2014) Opportunity to learn and use new technology (Maguire, 2005) Strengthens institution's reputation More diverse student body (Baukal, 2010) New distance learning materials can be reused in on-campus teaching Future-proofs courses against technological change New income streams, which are more internationally diversified (Hunt, et al, 2014;Maguire, 2005;Legon & Garrett, 2018) More flexible learning -in time and place that suits students' lifestyle/ employment pattern (Hunt, et al, 2014) Development of more global teaching (e.g case studies etc. )…”

“…Distance learning materials are all reusable New source of students (Baukal, 2010) Students able to learn with others from different cultures/regions of the world Provision of flexible learning -time and location independent (Hunt, et al, 2014;Sahin & Shelley, 2008) Distance learning is online ,asynchronous, and scalable (Sahin & Shelley, 2008) Opportunity to work closely with instructional designers (Means, Toyama, Murphy, Bakia, & Jones, 2009;Betts & Heaston, 2014) Staff require support to learn and adopt new learning technology (Hunt, et al, 2014;Minnaar, 2013) Provision of sufficient levels of support (instructional designers, school support, additional tutors etc) (Betts & Heaston, 2014;Minnaar, 2013) Ensuring good engagement, and interaction and avoiding isolation (Hunt, et al, 2014;Maguire, 2005) Challenges in replicating on-campus student experience and levels of engagement (Betts & Heaston, 2014) Requirement for 24 hour helpline for IT/technology support Will new courses be ready on timeacademics have limited bandwidth amidst other competing pressures of research, campus teaching etc. (Bolliger & Wasilik, 2009;Islam, Beer, & Slack, 2015) Uncertainty over size of distance learning courses -too big or too small -both impact on student experience…”

A strategy for sourcing continuing engineering education

“…Although both employees and employers agree that CEE is important, the real challenge is time: engineers who are busy with work and family responsibilities often find it difficult to regularly attend classes held on a specific day and time each week (Fink, 2001). This is an important reason why distance CEE has expanded rapidly (Baukal, 2010). These virtual universities help meet the demand for CEE anytime and anyplace.…”

Editorial

“…The two contributions discussed so far are to some extent focused on the two ends of the university experience -starting out in higher education and readiness for work. With the National HE STEM programme (National HE STEM Programme, 2010) and the increasing focus on STEM subjects in schools, the engineering education community continues to increase its reach beyond universities to explore the areas of lifelong learning (Baukal, 2010) and the inclusion of engineering education in the school curriculum (Clark and Andrews, 2010). This is a positive trend as a coherent 'engineering learning' journey is in the best interests of everyone concerned.…”