Distance Education Programs
Michigan Tech's distance education mission is to provide access to its quality on-campus learning opportunities. MTU achieves this mission not by designing distance education degrees, but by designing access mechanisms that integrate the place-bound student into the university-based student population while maximizing value to its corporate partners.
Distance education is defined as a formal educational process in which the majority of the instruction occurs when student and instructor are not in the same location. Instruction may be synchronous or asynchronous and employ correspondence study or audio, video, or computer technologies. Our programs are primarily asynchronous: faculty prepare videotaped lectures which are viewed by students, and students then interact with faculty and other students by phone, fax, and e-mail at their convenience. Increased use of the internet and WWW for course delivery is anticipated for the future.
Distance education at Michigan Tech is the product of several groups who work together. Faculty develop the distance education program to ensure its academic quality. Academic support units such as the Library, Admissions, Information Technology, and Financial Aid ensure that students have access to on-campus resources. Finally, Extended University Programs (EUP) staff have administrative responsibility for distance education, coordinating the delivery of distance education and also making marketing materials available to corporate partners to assist in their internal marketing of MTU distance-education courses to potential students [9.5A].
Successful distance education requires a good infrastructure. Michigan Tech and its partners have established an infrastructure to support administration, production, faculty, and student advising.
- Extended University Programs provides administrative support to help enroll students, collect fees, mail video tapes, send out instructional materials and books to students, market the programs, assist faculty, and perform other administrative and support functions as necessary [9.6] EUP maintains a WWW site [http://www.admin.mtu.edu/eup/] and has prepared Teaching at a Distance: Faculty Handbook [9.1C] to assist faculty responsible for distance education instruction.
- Educational Technology Services (ETS) manages the production studio where on-campus class lectures are videotaped for off-campus students.
- Site Coordinators employed by the corporate partner interact closely with the EUP Student Services Coordinator. Site coordinators perform daily and quarterly administrative duties such as distributing videotaped and printed course materials, collecting and forwarding student homework and projects, proctoring exams, returning graded exams, returning videotapes, and making special arrangements when students cannot attend class [9.1B].
For additional information on EUP and ETS staff, see "Human Resources" below.
The equivalence of on-campus and off-campus programs, and the integrity of distance education, are assured in several ways:
- Equivalent Admission Standards. Academic advisors, who advise both on- and off-campus students, evaluate transcripts with the aid of the University Transfer Counselor.
- Equivalent Courses. There is no distance education catalog with unique distance education courses; courses offered by distance technology are the courses listed in the Undergraduate Catalog [1.3A]. On-campus classes are held in the studio during taping, so off-campus students receive the same lectures as on-campus students. Curricular issues are the responsibility of faculty members or committees in the degree granting programs.
- Access to Learning Resources. An EUP Student Services Coordinator facilitates communication between off-campus students and faculty, academic advisors, and other campus resources normally available to on-campus students, including admissions, registration, financial aid, advising, degree audit, library, learning centers, career center, and bookstore. Procedures used by the Student Services Coordinator to integrate the place-bound student into the university-based student population are outlined in supporting documentation for distance education [9.2H]. EUP has prepared the MTU Distance Learning Student Handbook [9.1A] which is available in print and on the EUP WWW page. The Distance Education Technology Help Desk, accessible by e-mail, phone, fax, voice mail, and walk-in hours, provides assistance with electronic services and computer requirements to students and faculty and electronic distribution of distance education course information. EUP is also creating a student orientation tape to help in technology use questions. See also "Instructional Resources" below.
- Adherence to University Policies. Faculty eligibility to teach courses, adjunct appointments, and other academic and administrative procedures such as conflict of interest are applied equally to on- and off-campus programs.
Bachelor of Science in Surveying
The BSS is offered through distance delivery by the School of Technology as a response to a specific need of the MSPS. Surveyors are now required to earn a BSS in order to be licensed in Michigan. Because the demand for graduates in this field is great, MSPS wanted to provide its membership access to Michigan Tech’s BSS. Accordingly, MSPS and the University conducted a continuing education needs assessment of the MSPS membership, which sought information on the members’ current educational status, their educational needs, and time and place limitations on pursuing additional education. Based on this assessment, MSPS and Michigan Tech decided to offer a distance degree program to individual students at multiple sites throughout Michigan, with Macomb Community College as its initial access site. This program is now offered at eight corporate sites. Fall 1997 enrollment is 40 students.
Because Macomb Community College (MCC) offers an associate degree in Surveying, it was originally agreed that MTU would offer upper-division surveying classes while MCC would offer lower division classes. Over time, this MTU-MCC partnership has weakened as Michigan Tech expanded beyond the region served by MCC. MSPS has inquired about the possibility of MTU offering lower division classes. Faculty will take this inquiry under consideration during the current academic year. Before offering lower division classes, we need to do extensive planning.
Bachelor of Science in Engineering with a concentration in Mechanical Design
The BSE is offered through distance delivery by the College of Engineering, with major courses and academic advising provided by Mechanical Engineering/Engineering Mechanics. This program is currently offered only to General Motors Corporation in metropolitan Detroit. Approximately 40 students are enrolled and ten are expected to graduate in November 1997.
The curriculum emphasizes design and strong computer and laboratory experiences. The laboratory component of courses with experimental and computer laboratories are developed according to guidelines established by our faculty with input from corporate partners [9.2G, General Motors Technical Education Program (TEP) Quality Standard for Laboratory Selection and Set-up] and are taught at university, industrial, and community college sites in metropolitan Detroit by adjunct faculty under the direction of a Michigan Tech faculty member. Adjunct faculty are selected through normal University procedures for an adjunct appointment and are only utilized for laboratory components of coursework. Of the total of 196 credits required for the BSE, a minimum of 45 credits of 300- and 400-level course work must be taken from Michigan Tech, which include specific courses that contain required engineering design content.
PhD in Mechanical Engineering/Engineering Mechanics
The PhD in Mechanical Engineering/Engineering Mechanics is offered off-campus by the College of Engineering, with major coursework and academic advising provided by the Departments of Mechanical Engineering/Engineering Mechanics and Electrical Engineering. This program is currently offered only to Ford Motor Company employees; four students have been admitted to the program and one is under consideration. The off-campus PhD is administered under our existing PhD program through a waiver of the residency requirements by the Vice Provost for Research and Dean of the Graduate School. A committee of the Graduate Council is reviewing distance education programs to make a recommendation on policy for distance education graduate programs to the Graduate Council and Dean of the Graduate School. If recommended, the Dean would bring this policy to the University Senate for its approval.
The off-campus PhD focuses on educating technical experts in areas of specific interest to our corporate partner. Admission to the program is handled on a case-by-case basis. Upon admittance, the PhD candidate establishes a doctoral advisory committee and defines a research project directed toward the research needs and applications of the sponsoring corporate partner. The committee consists of at least two Michigan Tech graduate faculty, and one or two adjunct professors appointed from the sponsoring corporate partner. The student's doctoral advisory committee may be chaired either by the major Michigan Tech faculty advisor, or by co-chairs from the University and the sponsoring corporate partner. Adjunct faculty are selected through normal University procedures for an adjunct appointment, which requires proof of qualifications.
Because a key element of a PhD program is the direct interaction between the student and his/her faculty advisor, the Michigan Tech faculty advisor will normally spend three to six months in residence at the corporate partner's site advising and directing the doctoral student's research. The doctoral student will spend approximately two weeks in residence at the University for each of the qualifying, comprehensive, and final doctoral dissertation defense examinations. In addition to the successful completion of these examinations, a minimum of thirty (30) quarter credits of graduate courses beyond the MS degree is required. The majority of these courses will be offered via videotape. All doctoral students must maintain a continuing enrollment of at least six credits per quarter (course and/or research), three credits of which must be taken from Michigan Tech.
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Last Revised: 12 DECEMBER 1997
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