Converting Face To Face Classes To Web Based On Line College Classes

Due to the increasing interest in web-based college courses, some engineering and engineering technology departments are exploring the idea of converting traditional face-to-face college classes into on-line courses. The Manufacturing Engineering Technology Program at Minnesota State University, Mankato MN, has put most of our Industrial Engineering-based senior-level courses on-line via the web over the past few years, converting these classes from traditional face-to-face campus lectures and laboratories. We have learned quite a bit in the process. Web-based, on-line classes provide advantages for students who are remote or have schedule problems, but there are a number of factors and costs, often hidden, which also must be considered when converting traditional classes to on-line classes. This paper will present case-study examples of class conversions of two Industrial Engineering-based classes (Logistics, and Industrial Safety) which are taught as part of the Manufacturing Engineering Technology program. We will discuss preliminary evaluations of results, and will present a few of the advantages, costs, and problems involved with teaching these on-line courses. We will also discuss the experiences of a newly-hired faculty member who is teaching an already-converted on-line Industrial Engineering-based class for the first time. This paper will be valuable for programs considering developing on-line classes, especially in the areas of Industrial Engineering and Manufacturing. Advantages – Why the Classes were Offered On-Line With the growth of the internet and supporting programs, many institutions of higher learning are examining the possibility of offering at least some classes over the internet. While correspondence courses by mail have been offered for many decades, the immediate response and information bandwidth of the internet offer the possibility of real-time remote interaction, electronic homework and exams, and instant streaming video and audio not available by mail. With proper support, web-based instruction computer programs such as Desire2Learn (D2L) 1 , a commercial classroom management system (similar to Blackboard, etc.), allows remote students to password-access materials on their own schedule while requiring online discussions at specified times, at the instructor‟s discretion. Thus, web-based, on-line college classes offer the opportunity to teach classes to a much wider audience of students with schedule flexibility. But nothing is perfect. The Minnesota State University, Mankato‟s Manufacturing Engineering Technology program culminates with our students completing a two-semester Senior Design Project, often at out-oftown manufacturing facilities. These students must travel between the sponsoring company and our campus almost daily in order to do their design project while also taking face-to-face classes here. In addition, we are working with remote community college partners to develop articulation agreements to allow students to take the first two years at a local community college, and then transfer to our university to complete their four-year Bachelor‟s of Science degree in P ge 14369.2 Manufacturing Engineering Technology. At least some web-based courses would mean that these students would not need to spend as much time away from their homes, which could attract more students. Thus it made sense to consider putting the senior classes on-line to allow these students to work from a remote location. We did not have the resources to offer the same classes face-to-face and also on-line; it was determined to be too costly to offer both methods simultaneously. There are not enough students in the program to offer most classes more often than once per year, so it was decided to convert all the traditional senior classroom classes almost completely to an on-line format, with each class requiring only a single on-campus face-to-face meeting. Converting Traditional Face-to-Face Classed to Web-Based On-Line Classes The first step in putting classes on-line was to decide which classes would be converted to online over the web. By the time our Manufacturing Engineering Technology students finish their junior year, they have had most of our hands-on engineering and laboratory-based courses. We had six traditional Industrial Engineering-based face-to-face classes in the senior year: Manufacturing Resource Planning and Control, Ergonomics and Work Measurement, Industrial Safety, Project and Value Management, Logistics and Transportation, and Quality Management Systems. There was a total of nineteen credits for these courses; with the three Senior Design credits, the total came to twenty-two MET credits for the senior year. When we put these courses on-line, students had the choice of taking other courses on campus, or taking a number of on-line course offerings from other departments, in order to complete their normal load of thirty-two credits for the year, or they could choose to take a reduced load during their senior year. The second step was to decide how we would use the single two to three hour, on-campus, faceto-face meeting. Of these senior classes, only the Ergonomics and Work Measurement class had a significant laboratory component. When put on-line, this class would condense all laboratory experiences into the single on-campus meeting. The remainder of the classes generally would use the single on-campus meeting for presentations of student projects, for discussions, and for the final exams. We used the Desire 2 Learn (D2L) 1 system of web-based instruction, which is relatively easy for the instructor to use with the program‟s ability to edit and add content, upload files, link to net sites, assemble and grade quizzes, collect e-homework, hold discussions, and determine grades. The linking ability made it possible to link to the University‟s streaming server to provide videos of lectures and professional videotapes and DVDs (with proper license agreements to use copyrighted materials, of course) 2 . Next, we decided to convert the classes in a phased manner, rather than all at once. The Chair of the Department of Automotive and Manufacturing Engineering, Ann Goebel, took the lead in converting Manufacturing Resource Planning and Control, Ergonomics and Work Measurement, Project and Value Management, and Quality Management Systems to on-line courses. The learning curve was steep, as our department had never put courses on-line before. By the time we converted the last two courses, the process had been streamlined. For this reason, this paper will concentrate on these last two courses, along with the introduction of new instructors into existing on-line courses. P ge 14369.3 Steps Taken to Convert Existing Face-to-Face Classes to Web-Based On-Line Classes The year before conversion, while converting the first four courses to on-line, we also video recorded the in-class face-to-face lectures for Logistics and Transportation, and for Industrial Safety, to simplify the next year‟s conversion of these two classes. During this time, any assignments requiring face-to-face interactions were modified to make them work on-line. The results were then edited so they could be streamed over the web the following year. To make the classes ready for the web, handouts were scanned so students could download them, and some PowerPoint presentations were uploaded into D2L. The entire class schedule was then broken down into one-week modules. One class, safety, originally had few, on-line, weekly work assignments, but we quickly discovered that students often put off their work too long. So the class was revised to add a weekly quiz in each module, which improved class participation. Quizzes and grading information were uploaded, and the time of opening and closing each portion of the class was set. We found that D2L makes the editing process quite easy, and are currently using the same program and methods to enhance our face-to-face classes also. We quickly learned that these procedures took much more time than it took to prepare for a traditional face-to-face lecture class. Unlike simply inserting, playing, and showing a purchased video in class, each video used on-line requires a license to stream on the web, and then the video must be converted and uploaded. While an instructor thinks little of simply showing illustrations and pictures on a document camera during lecture, there are copyright issues when scanning material for placement on the web. Even under the “Fair Use” doctrine, the United States Copyright Office warns, “The safest course is always to get permission from the copyright owner before using copyrighted material. The Copyright Office cannot give this permission. When it is impracticable to obtain permission, use of copyrighted material should be avoided unless the doctrine of „fair use‟ would clearly apply to the situation. The Copyright Office can neither determine if a certain use may be considered „fair‟ nor advise on possible copyright violations. If there is any doubt, it is advisable to consult an attorney.” 2 Compounding this issue, it is possible for students to capture and redistribute content, even though D2L requires password access. This is more of a problem if complete Quicktime files are uploaded, but even streaming video is not completely safe from copyright infringement. Sometimes it is easier to design and compose entirely new illustrations and graphs (which must not be derivatives or copies) rather than take the time and effort to get licenses or legal reviews of each illustration. Or simply eliminate that visual aid for web-based classes to avoid potential legal problems. Our experience has been that sometimes students see materials a bit differently on their computers from what instructors see, so each lesson should be previewed as a student before release. WORD and EXCEL files saved in 2007 format cannot be viewed by students with earlier versions. Quizzes must be