Florida State University



EME 5457

Online Course Report

Submitted by:

October 21, 2007

Course Reviewed: ETI 4635 Technical Administration

Course Instructor: Dr. Lucy Morse (morse@mail.ucf.edu)

Fulfilling the requirements for the completion of this report was definitely a challenge. I had originally signed up to review a course for the master’s degree program in Instructional Systems and Online Learning for Capella University. On Capella’s website, there are no links to professors so I decided to call the number for the university. The young man I spoke to said that he did not have a list of who the instructors were but that someone would probably contact me if I ask for information about the program (which I had also already done). I found it ironic that he was telling me that someone would contact me when I was already contacting him!

I gave up on Capella University and contacted six professors from the University of Central Florida where I had previously received a master’s degree in TESOL. I finally received word via email from Dr. Lucy Morse who was the advisor for the Online Bachelor of Science in Engineering Technology (B.S.E.T.) program at UCF. I sent her the instructional questionnaire that I had developed and then send it again two more times with a reminder. I also called her office but received no answer. Finally at the eleventh hour she called me back. It seems that during this particular week she was swamped and she apologized for not getting back to me sooner. The following report is based upon both our discussion and supplemental research conducting via the internet pertaining to the University of Central Florida and their online programs.

Designation & Sponsor

The course examined in this document is ETI 4635, Technical Administration. It is taught by Dr. Lucy Morse and is a required course for students pursuing a bachelor’s degree in engineering technology at the University of Central Florida.

The course is designed to help future engineers with basic management skills.

It is taught in a “mixed mode” format meaning that online instruction is supplemented with face to face instruction. Some students are registered for the course as purely an “online” student while others register to take the course in the mixed mode format meaning that some in class time is required of them.

Dr. Morse has been teaching this particular class in this way since 1997.

Goal

According to the University of Central Florida Online UCF website, the Bachelor’s degree in Engineering Technology gives students a background in industrial engineering technology and provides, “an orientation for professional careers in technical management and operations in the manufacturing, sales, service, and construction industries.” Dr. Morse’s course is designed to foster leadership and basic management skills for those going into the engineering field. Having this course available allows those who are full time working adults, or those who live in another part of the country or even the world to pursue a degree in Engineering Technology.

Audience

The primary audience for this course is students participating in the B.S.E.T. program. According to Dr. Morse, the average age of the student is around 32 years old. Many of these students are coming back to school after having children or are in the process of changing careers. Because they are older they tend to be more driven and self-motivated. Most of the students have full time jobs outside of the program. Some are already involved in the engineering field and are furthering their education in order to advance their careers. Others are coming to school later in life after having their children. Not surprisingly, Dr. Morse stated that all of the students are very comfortable with technology. They are after all going to be engineers.

Modes of Instruction

ETI 4635 Technical Administration is designed as a mixed mode or blended course but registers students to attend the class fully online or online with face to face interaction. Those who sign up for the course as a mixed mode class are required to attend class. Mixed mode students attend live lecture about half of the time as a regular student in a face to face class. The other “half” of the class is supplemented online. Those students that register for the class as a “web-based” class are expected to do all of their work online. Lectures that are given to the “mixed-mode” students are taped and uploaded for the “web-based” students to “attend” using a technology called Tegrity.

As for the class itself it is organized into modules by week, however students are not necessarily turning in assignments every week. The organization is simply used as a way of dividing materials. The format of the class is very loose. There are no regular days in which assignments are due. There is not a definite beginning or ending to the “instructional week.” Dr. Morse explained that since the students are so much older, they are busy and that having such a structured schedule would not be practical for them. There are discussion posts, but they are more for the students to work with each other. Dr. Morse says she looks in on the online posts from time to time to make sure that language and topics are appropriate, but that she usually does not respond to them and does not require a minimum number for grading purposes.

Web CT is the learning management system that the course uses although it is interesting to note that this class and the engineering department in general has decided to use the older version of Web CT rather than upgrade to the newer version as most of the rest of the university has done. Dr. Morse says that this is not due to cost, but complaints about the new system and how it is organized. Dr. Morse also said that after many headaches, she no longer uses synchronous chats. She stated that there were too many logistical problems and that keeping up with all of the students was a nightmare. Students can chat with each other in groups if they need to in order to work on assignments.

Evaluation Procedures and Evidence of Success

Students for the course are required to complete two online exams, a resume, a final project, journal entries, and a critical analysis project. Two of these assignments are done with a single group and the rest are individual. All evaluations with the exception of the group’s proposal for their initial project are summative in nature. There is not really any formal ongoing evaluation such as the instructor responding to student posts for points or a participation grade. Assignments are turned in via the internet although Dr. Morse says that on occasions she does allow students to turn in hard copies of their work.

To evaluate the effectiveness of the course, the university gives all students an evaluation form in which they give feedback about the instructor and the course. Dr. Morse also said that from “time to time” she will give a survey to her students concerning the course and anything that may need to be adjusted.

Challenges

Dr. Morse said that in the past her biggest challenge was in trying to orchestrate chats and discussions online. She said that with the number of students she was trying to accommodate and the fact that most were older, had full time jobs, and varied schedules, chats just were not practical. She still has a discussion board, but it is used on a more casual basis. She does require groups to post discussions about their project just to make sure that they are meeting and working on their project. She checks it from time to time but students do not receive a grade on the number of posts they complete.

Interaction was also noted as a challenge with the students who were taking the course entirely online. One of the parts of her job that Dr. Morse says she enjoys the most is interacting with the students in lecture. She complained that the only interaction with the web based students was usually through email. She is currently in the process of trying some new strategies to increase the interaction between the students themselves and with her through the online component of the course.

Student Needs and Perceptions

When asked how many hours per week students needed to spend on the course, Dr. Morse could not give me an exact answer. She told me that because she does not have a regularly scheduled day of the week for turning assignments in, it would be hard to figure out an average. She went on to say that it most likely would depend on if an assignment was due or how much time an individual student had to devote to material on a particular week. She explained that in her view her students were adults and that they were in charge of monitoring their own study schedule. As long as they turned in the assignments at the specified times, she was not concerned that they adhere to a specific schedule or spent a certain amount of time on the course.

I asked Dr. Morse if students seemed to enjoy her course and how it was set up. She explained that students wished that they could come to lecture more, but at the same time said that if the course were not offered online or in mixed mode, they probably would not be able to take it. I asked her if they liked the loose structure of the course and told me that they seemed to appreciate the flexibility that it gave them in learning and completing assignments.

Future Plans

I asked Dr. Morse how the course has changed over the ten years she has taught it and what she plans to change in the future. She says that it has been mostly content and not technology that has changed. The quality of the technologies themselves has improved. Dr. Morse says she also has more choices of materials that she can put online than she ever did before and that she doesn’t have to worry as much as limitations such as the type of internet connection her students may have. As far as changes in the future, she says that she plans to do some fine-tuning as far as content and also wants to find more ways to interact more closely with the web-based students.

|  |Percent |Points |  |  |  |  |

|Points |Earned |Earned |Requirements |  |  |

|  |  |  |  |  |  |  |

|10 |100% |10.00 |Goal: What is the purpose/goals of the distance course/program? |

|10 |100% |10.00 |Designation & Sponsor: Describe its official designation (course, curriculum, resource, |

| | | |training event) and sponsoring institution/body. |

|10 |100% |10.00 |Audience: Describe the target audience; who are the students? |

|10 |100% |10.00 |Student Needs: What motivates individuals to participate? (advancement, compulsory attendance, |

| | | |convenience, etc.) |

|10 |100% |10.00 |Modes of Instruction: How are the course(s) structured (self paced, course duration, |

| | | |asynchronous/synchronous, technologies)? |

|10 |75% |7.50 |Success: What is the evidence (enrollment statistics, testimonials, awards, number of |

| | | |graduates) of success thus far? |

|10 |100% |10.00 |Challenges: What are the major frustrations/problems faced? |

|10 |100% |10.00 |Evaluation Procedures: What are the means of evaluating student learning and program/course |

| | | |effectiveness? |

|10 |100% |10.00 |Student Perceptions: How is the program perceived by students (e.g., degree of interaction, |

| | | |frequency and quality of feedback, resources availability, personal contact with instructor or |

| | | |participants, etc.)? |

|10 |100% |10.00 |Future Plans: What are their future plans for improving the program? |

|20 |85% |17.00 |Organization of Article: (see rubric below) |

|20 |100% |20.00 |Clarity in Writing: (see rubric below) |

|140 | |134.50 |Total points earned | | |

| | |96.1% |Percent Score (A = 93+, A = 90-92, B+ = 87-89, B = 93=87, B- = 80=83, etc.) |

| | |19.21 |Points toward course grade = (20 possible pts X Percent Score) |

|Writing Style: | | | | | |

|  |- 30% |- 20% |- 10% |- 0% | | |

|Clarity |Incorrect |Simplistic |Acceptable, |Precise and | | |

| |and/or |and/or |effective |rich | | |

| |ineffective |imprecise |language |language; | | |

| |wording |language | |variety of | | |

| |and/or | | |sentence | | |

| |sentence | | |structure and| | |

| |structure | | |length. | | |

Nice job on reporting your findings in your written report. It was written concisely and succinctly, and you found a few interesting nuances in the course design and structure compared to other courses taught online. I hope you find my comments helpful! ( --Allan

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