Friday, February 1, 2002

Engineering Accreditors Struggle to Set Standards for Online Lab Sessions By DAN CARNEVALE Accrediting officials are trying to determine how to evaluate engineering programs that let students complete laboratory work over the Internet. Although some courses already rely on online labs, no official guidelines exist to help instructors establish or evaluate the labs. As interest in creating more online labs grows, engineering officials are looking to the accrediting community for guidance. The Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology Inc. is in the early stages of developing a set of guidelines, says George D. Peterson, executive director of ABET. The board is starting slowly, he says, first establishing objectives for traditional labs. After that, he says, the objectives can be applied to online labs to make sure the same standards are met. Engineering officials gathered in San Diego in early January to discuss the issue. They drafted a list of 13 objectives for a successful traditional lab. According to the objectives, labs should make sure that students can devise experiments, analyze data, and make use of the human senses. ABET is now sending the list to faculty members in various engineering programs to get feedback. The list of objectives may change as suggestions are gathered. "The next step after that is, with the Sloan Foundation, we hope to fund some institutions that would like to demonstrate that they can meet those objectives online," Mr. Peterson says. A. Frank Mayadas, director of the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation's Asynchronous Learning Network, says it is looking for institutions that are willing to develop online labs and be evaluated afterward. The Sloan Foundation has provided ABET with about $30,000 to investigate the issue, Mr. Mayadas says. Afterward, the foundation will likely offer substantially more money to experiment with online labs, he says. Mr. Mayadas says he believes accredited online undergraduate engineering degrees could be available in a year and a half to two years. "The technology is already there," he says. "It's a matter of legitimizing it." Engineers and distance-education officials are already enthusiastic about developing online engineering labs. Robert Ubell, dean for online learning and corporate development at the Stevens Institute of Technology, says engineering degrees should be offered online so more students have access to them. "The effort is an important step in appreciating the fundamental pedagogical needs of students in undergraduate engineering education," Mr. Ubell says. "It's exciting. It's a departure from what people understand online learning to be." Some distance-education programs have already begun experimenting with online laboratories in engineering, computer science, and chemistry. In Britain, the Open University mails out kits so students can create electric circuits. Some institutions have engineering labs that let students control robots from afar, viewing their work online with real-time video. Others have students conduct simulated experiments over a computer. But some people are still skeptical about whether a student should be able to get an engineering degree without setting foot in a physical laboratory. Burks Oakley II, associate director of the University of Illinois Online, says he can see students completing degrees in a hybrid environment that requires both online and on-site laboratories. "But I'm still one that says you have to go in there and do something," Mr. Oakley says. "It's that hands-on component where you're connecting wires together." Despite the advancement of computer technology, human senses and creativity work better in a physical environment, he says. Sometimes students need to be in the lab to figure out how to fix something. "You know when something's wrong," Mr. Oakley says. "It's that kind of engineering intuition." But he does see a place for online laboratories in engineering. "In some cases, maybe simulation is better," he says. "With nuclear reactors, you wouldn't want a graduate student working on those." * * * Following are the 13 objectives for engineering-class lab sessions, as drafted by the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology and engineering officials: Instrumentation -- Apply appropriate sensors and tools to measure physical quantities. Models -- Identify strengths and limitations of theoretical models as predictors of real-world behavior. Experimentation -- Devise an approach, specify appropriate equipment and procedures, implement the strategy, and interpret the data. Data analysis -- Demonstrate the ability to collect, analyze, and interpret data to form and support conclusions. Design -- Create and debug a part, product, or system using specific methodologies, equipment, or material while meeting specific requirements and specification. Learn from failure -- Recognize unsuccessful outcomes from faulty equipment, parts, code, construction, process, or design, then re-engineer solutions. Creativity -- Demonstrate appropriate levels of independent thought and capability in real-world problem solving. Psychomotor -- Demonstrate competence in selection, modification, and operation of appropriate tools and resources. Safety -- Recognize health, safety, and environmental issues related to process and activities. Communication -- Relay information about laboratory work effectively, both orally and in writing, at levels ranging from executive summaries to comprehensive technical reports. Teamwork -- Work effectively in groups using accountability and assigning roles, responsibilities, and tasks to meet deadlines. Ethics -- Behave with high standards, including reporting information objectively and interacting with integrity. Sensory awareness -- Use human senses to gather information and make sound engineering judgements in formulation of conclusions. Easy-to-print version E-mail this article

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