Laboratory Oriented Distance Learning

When university faculty are confronted with the prospect of converting their courses into distance learning, they are faced with a number of concerns, such as the audio/video quality of distance learning facility, the assessment of student learning, and how a laboratory-based class should be taught. Wayne State University’s Division of Engineering Technology offers the Advanced Digital Design course with a laboratory section through distance learning and faces these very challenges. This paper, describes the challenges of offering such a course, recommends solutions, and assesses student view on the effectiveness of learning in a distance-learning environment with a laboratory section.