Effective engineering education at a distance – a guide for the curious Introduction 72; What do we mean by engineering? 72; What do we mean by open and distance education? 73; Can engineering be learned through open and distance education? 76; The style and structure of this chapter 77; Before you decide to develop the course . . . 77; A systematic course design process 79; Producing the course materials 87; Planning the course operation 88; Conclusions

doi:10.4324/9780203415986-22

Chapter

Effective engineering education at a distance – a guide for the curious Introduction 72; What do we mean by engineering? 72; What do we mean by open and distance education? 73; Can engineering be learned through open and distance education? 76; The style and structure of this chapter 77; Before you decide to develop the course . . . 77; A systematic course design process 79; Producing the course materials 87; Planning the course operation 88; Conclusions

Chapter

ABSTRACT

We hope that this chapter will help you to decide whether some form of open and distance education is appropriate for your particular current or intended students, course, or educational setting. If you decide that it is, we further hope that the chapter will help you to plan how you will prepare and run your course. In writing the chapter we have made the assumption that you have a speciﬁc need and have provided opportunities for you to develop your ideas towards some form of provision for your students. If you are just reading for general interest, though, we have given you a thread to follow and some ideas to work with. More on that shortly. But ﬁrst, some fundamental questions.