Feeds Growth Of Engineering Management In Florida

The Florida Engineering Education Delivery System (FEEDS) is a statewide consortium of the engineering schools in the state of Florida. It was created to provide distance education for engineers in the state. It has grown over the years from a few students in a few programs to many students in both graduate and undergraduate programs at more than eighty sites. This paper describes the growth of one of those programs, Engineering Management, over the past several years. Florida Engineering Education Delivery System (FEEDS) The following description of the FEEDS system was compiled recently when the Auditor Generals office performed an audit of the FEEDS function at the University of South Florida, College of Engineering their description bests describes the FEEDS operation. The Director and Associate Director of FEEDS as well as the Deans furnished much of the detail for the report. The Florida Engineering Education Delivery System (FEEDS) is a state-wide system which provides access to graduate-level and limited undergraduate engineering courses at industrial sites and cooperating university centers throughout Florida. FEEDS was designed to improve the availability of continuing education to engineers working in Florida, increasing their skills and thereby strengthening the State’s economic base. A student taking a course through FEEDS must meet the same requirements as a student on campus, and will earn the same credit and academic credentials. Academic programs delivered through FEEDS originate in colleges of engineering at the University of South Florida, University of Florida, Florida State University, Florida A&M University, Florida Atlantic University, University of Central Florida, and Florida International University. FEEDS began in 1982 when the Florida Legislature provided funds for the delivery of off-campus graduate engineering programs in Florida, and requested that the Board of Regents develop a plan for implementation of this delivery system. Chancellor’s Memorandum CM-C04.00-02/97 outlines the structure of the FEEDS system, and provides direction for statewide operations. While individual universities produce and facilitate the delivery of engineering degree programs and courses, the FEEDS system is overseen by the following three entities: • Florida Council of Engineering Deans (FCED) Consists of the deans of the State University System (SUS) colleges of engineering. FCED reports annually to the Board of Regents regarding the status of FEEDS operation, and, as the need arises, advises the Chancellor and P ge 698.1 “Proceedings of the 2001 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition Copyright Ó 2001, American Society for Engineering Education” the Board of Regents on matters pertaining to FEEDS. Responsibilities include long-range planning, budget, resource and policy recommendations, and the assessment of needs for facilities and equipment. • State System Operations Committee (SSOC) Consists of all the SUS FEEDS directors and a representative from the Board Office designated by the Chancellor. Responsible for managing, coordinating, and facilitating the operations of the FEEDS system. SSOC reports annually to the Board of Regents via the FDEC. • Regional Advisory Councils Members are appointed by the SUS deans of engineering. FEEDS directors and coordinators are also considered ex-officio members. There are four separate councils arranged geographically. USF and Florida Gulf Coast University comprise the Southwest Florida Regional Advisory Council. The Councils serve as feedback conduits between industry and individual universities, FEEDS, and the SSOC. The Regional Advisory Councils are charged with enhancing public awareness and support of FEEDS, as well as identifying needs for services in the region, estimating their costs, and reporting these needs to the appropriate deans of engineering. CM-C-04.00-02/97 assigns the Board of Regents responsibility for setting overall FEEDS policy to the Florida Council of Engineering Deans in conjunction with the Board of Regents of the SUS. Each year FEEDS receives a specific allocation of State funds from the Board of Regents and/or the Florida Legislature. State funding for USF FEEDS flows through the USF College of Engineering’s annual budget, and financial activity is tracked and monitored within that college’s central budget office. Industrial FEEDS sites are established for the delivery of FEEDS programs at the expense of the host organization. The host must provide all necessary equipment, facilities, and on-site administration related to courses offered at that site. Industry partners are assessed a flat cost-sharing fee per course section offered, which depends on whether they offer a live or tape site, at $40 or $80 respectively. Additional industry support, above and beyond the cost of establishing a FEEDS center, is encouraged but not required. Student fees are assessed in accordance with the University’s standard tuition schedule, and are collected and processed through the USF Cashier’s Office. USF FEEDS maintains it’s own engineering classroom two studios, transmitting courses live to the industrial FEEDS sites with both video and audio talk-back capabilities. USF FEEDS delivered its first live Internet course in the Spring 2000 semester, therefore; each studio has been equipped to encode and stream live courses over the Internet while at the same time simultaneous casting live TV signals. Engineering Management Degree P ge 698.2 “Proceedings of the 2001 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition Copyright Ó 2001, American Society for Engineering Education” The Master of Science Engineering Management degree was began in 1985 as a service for the Honeywell Corporation in Clearwater Florida. The management of Honeywell had the foresight to understand the combination of engineering and management so that engineers could manage technological based units, i.e., engineering departments, research and development, projects, etc. Honeywell provided the initial funds to get the program off of the ground. From this humble beginning, the MSEM program grew to be the largest program on all of the FEEDS networks. There were as many as 200+ students working on their degrees. The initial FEEDS delivery system at USF was ITFS low power microwave TV. This TV program could be successfully delivered for up to 35 miles direct line of sight. One of the FEEDS concepts was to establish agreements with corporations for delivering of master degree courses to the corporation sites. Courses were not meant to be delivered to individuals. As a result USF at its peak delivery cycle was delivering courses to 80 different corporate sites. Corporations in fact built 80 classrooms for USF FEEDS all over Florida. Over 2000 master degrees have been awarded by the total FEEDS organization. South Florida has awarded over 700 of these degrees with the Industrial and Management Systems Engineering Department awarding over 500 MSEM degrees. So popular and effective is the MSEM degree that other state universities have installed the degree with similar curriculums. Florida University, University of Central Florida, Florida International University, Florida State University/Florida A & M University and the private Universities of Miami and Florida Institute of Technology are now awarding the MSEM degree in some format. As was to be expected the new programs would erode the total students in the USF program. Still there are always around 75 to 100 students working on their degree at any one time. Performance of FEEDS A concern that is commonly expressed is “How well does distance education perform compare with traditional means of learning?” Over the years many individuals have attempted to answer this question including members of the Industrial Engineering faculty at the University of South Florida. Papers published over the years (Callahan, Givens, Weaver and Barrett, 1992, 1993; Callahan and McCright, 1994; Callahan, McCright and Bly, 1997, Homrig and Callahan, 1999) show that there is no statistical difference in the performance of students at studio, live broadcast, videotape, and Internet sites. There is, however, a statistical difference in the teaching ratings of the instructors depending on the medium used. These studies have followed over 2000 students enrolled in 13 different classes taught by five faculty members in multiple sections. Current studies are being conducted investigating the effect of distance education on long term retention of material. Interim results show no statistical difference between studio, live broadcast, videotape, and Internet based students. Future for the FEEDS and MSEM Programs P ge 698.3 “Proceedings of the 2001 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition Copyright Ó 2001, American Society for Engineering Education” FEEDS has contributed much to the economic welfare of Florida as any other education program. FEEDS has assisted corporations to hire and maintain excellent engineers. Feeds however is evolving. New delivery systems are being tested everyday. The Internet is now functioning as a delivery system. All of the six colleges of engineering are implementing the new technology. However, older delivery systems will continue to have their place in the continuum of education delivery. As long as there is a need and as long as the State of Florida continues to support the FEEDS system, the engineering consortium of FEEDS will play its role in the economic value to the state and its citizens. There will be new on demand courses on the Internet. This delivery system will fill a niche and be part of the evolvement of Florida’s Long Distance Education system. Other systems, live TV, video tapes or CDs, live Internet, On-Demand Internet, and satellite will continue to be used to deliver college course work to students. It is believed that courses will be