Ingenjörsutbildning Online - Slutrapport av projektet IngOnline, en distansbaserad högskoleingenjörsutbildning i Datateknik/Elektroteknik

Abstract

The aim of this report is to describe the project Engineering Education Online. This education program was initially formed by eight universities in Sweden at the end of 2002. The report describes the goal and the problems that we who participated in the project (steering committee, teachers and other staff), encountered along the way of implementation and some of the solutions to the problems. The way we chose to cooperate around one program as a joint project is thoroughly explained. Finally we have reflected around what we think we gained by working with this project and what we think of the future. The project was sponsored by the Swedish Net University Agency. It started in 2002 with an open meeting where we all decided that this was what we wanted to do. The main focus for the project was to design and implement a totally internet based educational program (bachelor of science in computer and electrical engineering) in cooperation. The decision was taken that the program would be based on courses already existing at the Universities given by the departments of Computer/Electrical Engineering. These courses where transformed and changed into net based courses. We also made a very crucial decision to carry out this program in a democratic way i.e. there is not one owner of this program but eight owners. Seven of these Universities have their own Program Study Plan which has a common core of courses. All seven Universities enroll students on this program. The students then join one course at one University at a time without physically moving to the different locations. In Sweden students don t pay fees, but all students have to pay a small amount to the student organization at the University where they are enrolled. The Students within the program were enrolled at four different Universities during the first semester and they therefore had to pay to four different student unions. The steering committee negotiated with the student unions and an agreement was signed that the students could pay reduced fees to the student unions. This agreement became precedential. The eight Universities also came to a mutual agreement that regulated responsibility for the different parts of the program, the economical matters and legal aspects. The agreement was signed by the vice chancellors at all the Universities. The project encountered a lot of administrative obstacles. The inflexible system for student loans, that students had to deal with at least six different LMS during the program, administration of credits, and transmitting student information between the Universities are some examples. Some of these problems can be solved with mutual agreements. Other problems, such as increased flexibility of student loans, could only be solved by the Parliament. During the project we have gained an increasing competence amongst our staff regarding how to develop and handle courses with distance students. We have also built a supporting network. But most important of all is that we had the possibility to give a program that has a relevance for students in Sweden that don t have the opportunity to study at campus based programs.