Delivering Construction Education Programs through the Distance Mode: Case Study in Australia
Publication: Journal of Professional Issues in Engineering Education and Practice
Volume 139, Issue 4
Abstract
Distance learning has gone through rapid expansion over the years. Statistics have shown that online enrollment has accounted for 25.3% of total enrollment in degree-granting postsecondary institutions in the United States by the end of 2008. Much has been discussed about the factors contributing to the success of distance courses. However, the design and delivery of distance learning construction programs (DLCPs) should not be overlooked, considering the characteristics of the construction industry and the construction discipline. Central Queensland University (alternatively known as CQ University) has offered DLCPs exclusively by the distance mode since 1990. From more than 20 years of experience, the university has identified a list of factors that can affect the success of DLCPs, including curriculum design, interface design, interactive delivery, and learning communities. It seems that these factors can adequately support the development of DLCPs by bridging the transition process, enhancing the interaction, and increasing disciplinary organized activities, which will then lead to the cognitive development of distance students. The results provide a good guidance of the design and delivery of DLCPs and will be useful for other institutions seeking to implement the distance mode in construction education.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
References
Alan, G. C., Thompson, M. M., and Hancock, B. W. (1999). The McGraw-Hill handbook of distance learning, McGraw-Hill, New York.
Allen, I. E., and Seaman, J. (2009). Learning on demand: Online education in the United States, 2009, The Sloan Consortium, Newburyport, MA.
Australian Building Codes Board. (2013). “The building code of Australia.” 〈http://www.abcb.gov.au/about-the-national-construction-code/the-building-code-of-australia〉 (Jul. 16, 2013).
Australian Bureau of Statistics. (2012). “Building and construction.” Canberra, Australia, 〈http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/[email protected]/productsbyCatalogue/EDD60A6A5408DD1BCA2576B00014308C?OpenDocument〉 (Dec. 10, 2012).
Benson, R., Hewitt, L., Devos, A., Crosling, G., and Heagney, M. (2009). “Experiences of students from diverse backgrounds: The role of academic support in the student experience.” Proc., 32nd Higher Education Research and Development Society of Australasia Annual Conf., 545–550.
Blackboard Collaborate [Computer software], Blackboard, Washington, DC.
Blattner, M. M., and Dannenberg, R. B. (1992). Multimedia interface design, Association for Computing Machinery, New York.
Bouhnik, D., and Marcus, T. (2006). “Interaction in distance-learning courses.” J. Am. Soc. Inform. Sci. Tech., 57(3), 299–305.
Brook, C., and Oliver, R. (2002). “Supporting the development of learning communities in online settings.” 〈http://editlib.org/d/9286〉 (Dec. 06, 2012).
Brook, C., and Oliver, R. (2003). “Online learning communities: Investigating a design framework.” Aust. J. Educ. Technol., 19(2), 139–160.
Cisco WebEX [Computer software], Cisco Systems, Inc., San Jose, USA.
Cobb, P. (1994). “Where is the mind? Constructivist and sociocultural perspectives on mathematical development.” Educ. Res., 23(7), 13–20.
Conrad, R., and Donaldson, J. A. (2004). Engaging the online learner, Jossey-Bass, San Francisco.
Dept. of Industry, Innovation Science, Research and Tertiary Education. (2012). “Higher education statistics.” Canberra, Australia, 〈http://www.innovation.gov.au/HigherEducation/HigherEducationStatistics/StatisticsPublications/Pages/default.aspx〉 (Dec. 4, 2012).
Elluminate Version 10 [Computer software], Blackboard, Washington, DC.
Federico, P. A. (1999). “Hypermedia environments and adaptive instruction.” Comput. Human Behav., 15(6), 653–692.
Jolliffe, A., Ritter, J., and Stevens, D. (2001). The online learning handbook: Developing and using web-based learning, Kogan Page, London.
Kennedy, G. E., Judd, T. S., Churchward, A., Gray, K., and Krause, K. L. (2008). “First year students’ experiences with technology: are they really digital natives?” Australasian J. Educ. Technol., 24(1), 108–122.
Kirk, K. (2008). “Diversity and achievement: Developing the learning of non-traditional HE students.” Improving student retention in higher education: The role of teaching and learning, G. Crosling, L. Thomas, and M. Heagney, eds., Routledge, Oxford, UK, 150–159.
Kruse, O. (2003). “Getting started: Academic writing in the first year of a university education.” Teaching academic writing in European higher education studies in writing, 12, 19–28.
Langford, D. A., Bilham, T., Fellows, R., and Newcombe, R. (1994). “Case study of development of distance-learning course.” J. Prof. Issues Eng. Educ. Pract., 120(4), 333–340.
Laurel, B. (1990). The art of human-computer interface design, Addison-Wesley, Reading, MA.
Laurillard, D. (2002). Rethinking university teaching, 2nd Ed., Kogan Page, London.
Lynch, M. M. (2002). The online educator: A guide to creating the virtual classroom, Routledge Falmer, London.
McCune, V. (2004). “Development of first-year students’ conceptions of essay writing.” Higher Educ., 47(3), 257–282.
McInnes, C., James, R., and Hartley, R. (2000). “Trends in the first year experience in Australian universities” Dept. of Education, Training and Youth Affairs, Canberra, Australia.
McLoughlin, C. (2002). “Learner support in distance and networked learning environments: Ten dimensions for successful design.” Dist. Educ., 23(2), 149–162.
McMullin, M., and Owen, G. M. (2002). “Educating students through distance learning for civil engineering design.” J. Prof. Issues Eng. Educ. Pract., 128(1), 6–11.
Mills, A., and Ashford, P. (2004). “Full time student and part-time workers: Employment practices of undergraduate students in the built environment courses in Australia.” Proc., 29th The Australasian Univ. Building Educators Association Annual Conf., University of Newcastle, Newcastle, Australia.
Moodle Version 2.0. [Computer software], Moodle Trust, Perth Australia.
Moore, M. G. (1980). “Independent study.” Redefining the discipline of adult education, R. Boyd and J. Apps, eds., Wiley, San Francisco.
Moore, M. G. (1989). “Three types of interaction.” Am. J. Dist. Educ., 3(2), 1–6.
Moore, A. B., and Brooks, R. (2000). “Learning communities and community development: Describing the process.” Learning communities: Int. J. Adult Vocational Learning, 1, 1–15.
Moore, M., and Kearsley, G. (2011). Distance education: a systems view of online learning, 3rd ed., Cengage Learning, Wadsworth.
Murphy, B. (2009). “Great expectations? Progression and achievement of less traditional entrants to higher education.” Widening participation and lifelong learning, 11(2), 4–14.
Palloff, R. M., and Pratt, K. (1999). Building learning communities in cyberspace: effective strategies for online classroom, Jossey-Bass, San Francisco.
Perrenet, J. C., Bouhuijs, P. A. J., and Smits, J. G. M. M. (2000). “The suitability of problem-based learning for engineering education: Theory and practice.” Teach. High. Educ., 5(3), 345–358.
Reeves, T. C., and Harmon, S. W. (1993). “Systematic evaluation procedures for instructional hypermedia/multimedia.” Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association, American Educational Research Association, Washington, DC.
Rodriguez, J. L., Plax, T. G., and Kearney, P. (1996). “Clarifying the relationship between teacher nonverbal immediacy and student cognitive learning: Affecting learning as the central causal mediator.” Comm. Educ., 45(4), 293–305.
Senior, B. A. (1998). “Infusing practical components into construction education.” J. Constr. Educ., 3(2), 92–101.
Star, C., and Hammer, S. (2008). “Teaching generic skills: Eroding the higher purpose of universities, or an opportunity for renewal?” Oxf. Rev. Educ., 34(2), 237–251.
Swan, K. (2002). “Building learning communities in online courses: The importance of interaction.” Educ. Comm. Inform., 2(1), 23–49.
Taylor, J. C. (2001). “Fifth generation distance education.” Proc., 20th World Conf. on Open and Distance Education, Int. Council for Open and Distance Education, Dusseldorf, Germany.
Underwood, J., and Szabo, A. (2003). “Academic offences and e-learning: Individual propensities in cheating.” Brit. J. Educ. Technol., 34(4), 467–478.
Volery, T., and Lord, D. (2000). “Critical success factors in online education.” Int. J. Educ. Manag., 14(5), 216–223.
Vygotsky, L. S. (1962). Thought and language, E. Hanfmann, and G. Vakar, eds., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA.
Vygotsky, L. S. (1978). Mind in society: The development of higher psychological processes, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA.
Warren, C., Birch, A., and Westcott, T. (2005). “Course provision in building and quantity surveying for non-cognate graduates.” Proc., Construction and Building Research Conf, RICS, London.
Williams, A., Sher, W., and Simmons, C. (2010). “Construction education in Australia: A review of learning and teaching challenges and opportunities.” Australian Learning and Teaching Council, Sydney, Australia.
Yin, R. K. (2003). Case study research: Design and methods, 3rd Ed., Sage Publications, Thousand Oaks, CA.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Professional Issues in Engineering Education and Practice
Volume 139 • Issue 4 • October 2013
Pages: 325 - 333
Copyright
© 2013 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Dec 21, 2012
Accepted: Mar 26, 2013
Published online: Apr 1, 2013
Discussion open until: Sep 1, 2013
Published in print: Oct 1, 2013
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.