Volume 5, Number 1, Fall 2004

 

 

Review of Online Degrees in Electrical and
Computer Engineering

 

Wael M. G. Ibrahim

ECPI College of Technology,

Computer Electronics Department,

5555 Greenwich Road,

Virginia Beach, VA 23462

Email: wibrahim@ecpi.edu

Rasha M. B. E. Morsi

Norfolk State University

Department of Engineering

700, Park Avenue

Norfolk, VA 23504

Email: rmorsi@nsu.edu

 

Abstract

 

With the advent of technology and the increasing number of non-traditional students enrolling in US Universities, the need for flexibility in education has become a necessity. Online education is now a means for Universities to provide education to a wider variety of student population. Development of synchronous and asynchronous distance learning curricula is ever an growing research due to this newly found need for virtual universities. Recent reports confirm the fast growth in online education, the suitability of which for online engineering disciplines has been questioned. This paper researches 126 degree granting institutions that offer an Electrical and Computer Engineering degree online, and attempts to gain an insight in the growth of online education and its correlation with engineering disciplines. A comparison of different online delivery methods is presented as well as a review of different systems for offering them.

 

Introduction

 

Distance learning or distance education is a term used extensively by colleges and universities to describe remote delivery of course contents. It usually refers to off-campus sites, web-facilitated courses, and web-based (online) courses. Development and assessment of synchronous and asynchronous distance learning curricula has gained a large momentum due to the new emerging virtual universities.

 

“Many factors have contributed to the popularity and growth of distance education. Some are organizational, such as the desire to reduce cost or increase reach, and others are societal, including the all-too-pervasive enamorment with technology” [1]. One important factor is the ability to reach non-traditional students. Present day students have outside factors affecting their reach for higher education, including but not limited to: full time employment, deployment for military personnel, and family.

 

Online degrees has vastly increased in popularity in recent years, however this interest has not been articulated in the deployment of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) bachelor degree programs. It has been argued that the ease of transfer of different disciplines from on-campus teaching to online teaching is discipline dependent. In engineering disciplines, laboratory experiments always served as the tool for relating the theoretical world to the real one. Other disciplines on the other hand do not necessarily require extensive hands-on labs. Practical or hands-on experiments delivered in traditional laboratory settings are now delivered through simulation software. Even though simulation is needed to reinforce concepts, practical experiments develop the student’s skills in dealing with the real instrumentation. To facilitate online education for engineering disciplines, virtual labs have emerged to give the students the practical experience.

 

The results of the Sloan survey of online learning [2] show that the growth rate for online enrollment continues to increase from 2003 to 2004. The survey results[2], classified by type of institution, show that the Associates degree granting institutions have the largest number of students taking at least one online course, representing about half of all the students studying online. Associates schools are followed, in order, by Masters, Doctoral/Research, Specialized, and Baccalaureate institutions with the smallest number [2]. The survey however does not relate the online offered courses to any specific discipline.

 

This paper attempts to provide a discipline specific review of undergraduate and/or graduate engineering degrees offered online. Different instructional technologies used at different institutions offering online engineering degrees are discussed. A comparison of different delivery methods for the online environment for Electrical and Computer Engineering courses in specific is presented. A review of different systems for offering electrical, electronics, and digital laboratories via distance learning is presented.

 

Review of online Undergraduate and/or Graduate Engineering Degrees

 

The fast and continuous growth of online education coupled with the results of the Sloan-C survey has spurred several questions about distance education;

 

·        Is this fast growth in online education a representative of all disciplines?

 

·        Is online education suitable for all disciplines?

 

·        Would Baccalaureate institutions offering engineering disciplines see more value in online education to their long-term strategy if hands-on experience is resolved?

 

 

To attempt to gain more insight in the growth of online education and its correlation with engineering disciplines, the authors investigated educational web sites of 126 educational institutions that offer an Electrical and Computer Engineering degree. These institutions are listed in Table 1[3].

 

1.        Air Force Institute of Technology

2.        Alfred University

3.        Northern Arizona University

4.        Arizona State University

5.        Auburn University

6.        Boston University

7.        Boise State University

8.        Bradley University

9.        Brigham Young University

10.     Bucknell University

11.     California Institute of Technology

12.     California Polytechnic State University - Pomona

13.     California Polytechnic State University - San Luis Obispo

14.     California State University - Chico

15.     California State University

16.     California State University - Los Angeles

17.     California State University - Northridge

18.     California State University - Sacramento

19.     Capitol College

20.     Case Western Reserve University

21.     Carnegie Mellon University

22.     Cedarville College

23.     Catholic University

24.     Citadel

25.     Christian Brothers University

26.     Clemson University

27.     Clarkson University

28.     Colorado School of Mines

29.     Cleveland State University

30.     Colorado Technical University Online

31.     Colorado State University

32.     Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art

33.     Columbia University

34.     Dartmouth College, School of Engineering

35.     Cornell University

36.     Drexel University

37.     Devry Institute

38.     Ellis College-New York Institute of Technology

39.     Duke University

40.     Fairfield University

41.     Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University

42.     Florida A&M University

43.     FairLeigh Dickinson University

44.     Florida Institute of Technology

45.     Florida Atlantic University

46.     Florida State University

47.     Florida International University

48.     George Mason University

49.     Gannon University

50.     Georgia Institute of Technology

51.     George Washington University

52.     Harvey Mudd College

53.     GMI Engineering & Management Institute (Kettering University)

54.     Illinois Northern University

55.     Illinois Institute of Technology

56.     Indiana / Purdue University - Fort Wayne

57.     Indiana / Purdue University - Indianapolis

58.     Johns Hopkins University

59.     Iowa State

60.     Kennedy Western University

61.     Kansas State University

62.     Lamar University

63.     Kettering University

64.     Louisiana State University

65.     Lehigh University

66.     Manhattan College

67.     Louisiana Tech. University

68.     Marquette University

69.     Mankato State University

70.     Mercer University

71.     Massachusetts Institute of Technology

72.     Michigan Technological University

73.     Michigan State University

74.     Mississippi State University

75.     Milwaukee School of Engineering

76.     Morgan State University

77.     Montana State University

78.     National Technological University

79.     National Technical University

80.     New Mexico State University

81.     New Jersey Institute of Technology

82.     North Carolina State University

83.     New Mexico Tech

84.     Northeastern University

85.     North Dakota State University

86.     Ohio Northern University

87.     Northwestern University

88.     Ohio University

89.     Ohio State University

90.     Oklahoma State University

91.     Oklahoma Christian University

92.     Oregon Graduate Institute

93.     Old Dominion University

94.     Pennsylvania State University

95.     Oregon State University

96.     Polytechnic University

97.     Portland State University

98.     Purdue University

99.     Princeton University

100.  Youngstown State University

101.  Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

102.  Rowan University

103.  Walden University

104.  Wayne State University

105.  Worcester Polytechnic Institute

106.  Wright State University

107.  Wilkes University

108.  Wichita State University

109.  Western Michigan University

110.  West Virginia University

111.  University of Illinois-Urbana Champagne

112.  University of Delaware

113.  University of Florida

114.  University of Idaho

115.  University of South Carolina

116.  University of Southern California

117.  University of Massachusetts Amherst

118.  University of North Dakota

119.  University of Colorado at Boulder

120.  University of Maryland-University college

121.  Texas Tech University

122.  University of Michigan Dearborn

123.  University of Missouri-Rolla

124.  University of Washington

125.  University of Cincinnati

126.  University of Norwestern

 

Table 1 A list of investigated educational web sites

 

 

The investigation relied on the classification established by the Sloan-C report [2] for defining an online course. According to the report an online course is a course that has 80+% of its content delivered online and typically has no face-to-face meetings [2]. In addition, our investigation concentrated on complete degrees offered online as opposed to course offerings online.

 

The results of the investigation are shown in Figure 1 and 2. Universities offering online engineering degrees constituted thirty percent (30%), or 38 universities, of the total number of investigated universities. Sixty percent (60 %), or 23 universities out of those 38 offered Electrical and/or Computer Engineering (EE/CE/ECE) disciplines. Figure 1 relates the number of engineering disciplines and the EE/CE/ECE majors offered online to the total number of investigated universities.

 

Figure 2 relates the number of EE/CE/ECE Baccalaureate, Masters, and Doctoral degrees offered online to the total number of EE/CE/ECE degrees offered online.  Only one university, out of the 23 universities found here to be offering online EE/CE/ECE disciplines, is offering a Baccalaureate degree. The majority, 19 universities (82.6%), are offering Masters Degrees online.

 

Figure 1 Survey results of universities offering online degrees

 

 

Figure 2 Percentage of degree offerings in EE/ECE
categorized as BSc, MSc, and PhD.

 

 

The University offering a Bachelors degree in Electrical Engineering is University of North Dakota (UND). The degrees offered by UND are ABET accredited online degrees. UND delivers four undergraduate engineering degree programs through their Distance Engineering Degree Program: chemical engineering, civil engineering, electrical engineering and mechanical engineering. Their Distance Engineering Degree Program is a part time program that is designed for non-traditional students. The laboratory requirements associated with the degree however are fulfilled through condensed summer sessions. For one credit labs, student is to be on-campus for 3-5 days. For two credit labs, on-campus presence is 7-9 days, and for three credit labs, the requirements are 14 days on campus.

 

The State University of New York (SUNY), has recently been awarded a large amount of money to develop an online bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering [4] which they claim to be the first in the world. It is understood that they are developing a completely online degree which would include laboratories online. If so, this will be a huge leap in advancement in online education for the engineering world.

 

The result of our investigation definitely validates the high growth rate in online education as 65% of the investigated universities offer online degrees or programs. However, only 46% of these universities are offering engineering degrees online with less than 1% offering a B.Sc. in EE/CE/ECE, 15% offering Masters in EE/CE/ECE, and 1.5% offering EE/CE/ECE Doctorate Degree.

 

 

Online Course Delivery Systems

 

Research has proven that even with the availability of well-prepared students and highly skilled faculty, a lecture-based, traditional teaching delivery method can be a detriment factor in students’ success and retention. It has been proven that a higher success rate is achieved with a shift from traditional teaching to web-facilitated learning. The curriculum must also have an emphasis on inquiry-based, hands-on approaches to learning. Blending multimedia and communication technologies into the delivery system is therefore a must.

 

A distance learning management system (DLMS) is the platform used by most institutions for the delivery and tracking of blended learning, i.e., online and traditional learning. A robust DLMS should provide a seamless integration for educational, administrative and supervisory tasks.  As with any online system, a DLMS system must offer security by selectively limiting and controlling access to online content. It must also be scalable to meet future growth in the volume of instruction and/or the size of the student body. The system must be user-friendly to facilitate the distance learning experience. It also should be built on an open architecture that supports content from different sources and is interoperable with different platforms.

 

Several platforms, listed in Table 2, are available in the market and an excellent review of some of the features offered by these platforms and others can be found on the instructional technology site of Marshall University [5].

 

 

DLMS

Company

Angel™

CyberLearning Labs, Inc.

WebCT™

WebCT, Inc.

Blackboard™

Blackboard Inc.

Desire2Learn

Desire2Learn Inc.

Embanet™

Embanet corporation

eCollege.com™

eCollege

IntraLearn™  

IntraLearn Software Corporation

Symposium™

Centra Software

Convene™

Learning Technology Partners (LTP),

 

               Table 2 Distance Learning Management Systems (DLMS)

 

 

The most popular DLMS systems are Blackboard™, WebCT™, Desire2Learn™ and Angel™. The Angel platform is gaining a large popularity due to its open and flexible architecture and ease of use despite that it does not contain as much features as the two leading LMS. The different DLMS systems provide several multimedia capabilities such as:

 

 

·        Different text formats: PDF, DOC, HTML, XML, and PPT.

 

·        Different Graphic formats: JPEG, TIFF, BMP.

 

·        Streaming Audio: MP3, WMA.

 

·        Streaming Video and animation: AVI, MPEG, WMV, Flash, and Shockwave.

 

Blackboard Inc. provides a comprehensive comparison of some of the DLMS capabilities across the leading solutions available in the market today: Blackboard Academic Suite™, WebCT Vista™, WebCT Campus Edition™, Desire2Learn™ and CyberLearing Lab’s ANGEL™. The capabilities are divided into four categories [7]:

 

 

·        Instruction, Communication and Assessment

 

·        Connections, Personalization and e-Commerce

 

·        Collection, Sharing and Discovery

 

·        Administrative

 

Some of these capabilities that are of most interest to the educator and that are common among all five platforms are [7]:

 

 

·        Course Creation Wizard including Import and Export

 

·        Spell Check

 

·        Equation Editor

 

·        Audio / Video capabilities

 

·        Adaptive Release Quizzes (By Date and By Grade)

 

·        Upload Existing Syllabus

 

·        Has Learning Unit / Module feature

 

·        Discussion Board, Chat, and Email

 

·        Online Assignment submission

 

·        Download Assignments

 

·        Questions Can Contain Images

 

·        Questions can contain Audio / Video / Other Media

 

·        Time Limit Option on the Test

 

·        Instructors Can Require Proctored Exams

 

·        Can Display Test All at Once or One Question at a Time

 

·        Instructors Can Override Automated Scoring

 

·        Create Test Banks

 

·        Include individual Questions from Test Banks

 

 

According to a recent report by the National Centre for Educational Statistics [8] (NCES) different delivery methods were used by different institutions. A summary of the report findings are presented in Table 3 below.

 

 

Delivery method

Public 2-year

Public 4-year

Private 4-year

Synchronous Web Courses

40%

55%

35%

Asynchronous Web Courses

95%

87%

86%

One Way Audio

10%

11%

12%

One Way live Video

9%

13%

4%

One Way prerecorded Video

57%

40%

24%

Two-way video with two-way audio

60%

80%

22%

 

Table 3 Primary Technology for instructional delivery for
distance education courses [8] 2000–2001.

 

The report results’ are indicative that the preferred delivery method for online education is asynchronous web-based instruction [8].  The vast majority of these institutions (90%) reported that they use asynchronous web-based as a primary mode of instructional delivery.

 

 Virtual laboratories for distance education

 

In its infancy, distance education relied on simulation for engineering courses to illustrate the physical phenomena. Java applets, simulation software such as PSpice, Matlab, Simulink, and Multisim were used to provide a virtual prototype of a practical experimentation. However the need to deliver and achieve the same learning and outcome objectives for online learning as those for traditional learning imposed the necessity of providing virtual and real experimentation facilities. The first generation of Remote Labs consisted of simply monitoring remote experimentation setups through dedicated environments which later progressed to virtual labs over the internet [9-12].

 

The new technology available with National Instruments (NI) LabVIEWÒ Remote Panels enables a user to quickly and effortlessly publish the front panel of a LabVIEWÒ program for use in a standard Web browser [13]. Once published, anyone on the Web with the proper permissions can access and control the experiment from the local server [13]. If the LabVIEWÒ program controls a real-world experiment, demonstration, calculation, etc., LabVIEWÒ Remote Panels turns the application into a remote laboratory with no additional programming or development time [13].

 

Collaborative and group work as emphasized by ABET is a key point to provide in virtual labs. Through NI remote panels, only one client can control the Host Server Clients application at a time, but the client can pass control easily among the various clients at run-time. At any time during this process, the operator of the host machine can assume control of the application back from the client currently in control [14].

 

National Instrument Educational Virtual Instrumentation Suite (NI ELVIS), Figure 3, consists of LabVIEW-based virtual instruments, a multifunction data acquisition device and a custom-designed bench top workstation and prototyping board [14].

 

 

Figure 3. National Instruments Educational Laboratory Virtual Instrumentation Suite [14]

 

 

The eTCB(electronics training circuit board), Figure 4, a custom-built trainer board that works in concert with National Instruments’ NI ELVIS (Electronics Laboratory Virtual Instrumentation Suite) and a personal computer, is a solution for students who need to perform laboratory experiments, whether at a distance or on campus [15]. This solution offers students the convenience of purchasing a laboratory manual and a custom-built eTCB, which are designed to offer a complete set of laboratory experiments in DC and AC circuit analysis and design courses [15].

 

 

Figure 4 eTCB board interfaced with NI ELVIS workstation [15]

 

 

Conclusion

 

An investigation of educational web sites of 126 educational institutions that offer an Electrical and Computer Engineering degree was presented.  The results are clearly indicative that online education has yet to gain ground in offering basic engineering courses leading to a Baccalaureate degree in engineering. It is the authors’ opinion that this is largely impacted by the extensive hands-on nature of engineering courses. However with the evolution and advancement in remote laboratories through NI-ELVIS or similar systems, it is expected that the number of online engineering Baccalaureate degrees will increase. This will be a direct result of labs moving from monitoring remote setups over the internet to a more realistic, interactive participation of students in remotely controlled lab facilities.

 

 

Bibliographical Information

 

[1]

The basics of e-learning: an excerpt from handbook of human factors in web design, eLearn Magazine, Volume 2005, Issue 8

[2]

Entering the Mainstream: The Quality and Extent of Online Education in the United States, 2003 and 2004, Sloan-C and the Sloan Center for OnLine Education (SCOLE), 2004.

[3]

A list of home pages for Electrical Engineering academic programs throughout the world. This document is maintained by the ECE Department of the University of Missouri at Rolla, http://www.ece.umr.edu/links/schools/, retrieved on December 1, 2004.

[4]

eLearn Magazine, Volume 2005, Issue 8

[5]

Comparison of Online Course Delivery Software Products, http://www.marshall.edu/it/cit/webct/compare/comparison.html, retrieved December 1, 2004.

[6]

CIC learning management systems (LMS) survey, http://telr.osu.edu/surveys/cic-lms/reportFeb02.cfm, retrieved December 29, 2004.

[7]

e-Learning competitive Landscape, Blackboard, Inc., http://www.blackboard.net/docs/AS/Bb_Academic_Suite_Whitepaper_Competitor_Comparison.pdf, retrieved December 29, 2004.

[8]

Waits, T. Lewis, L. (2003). Distance Education at Degree-Granting Postsecondary Institutions: 2000-2001. U.S. Department of Education, National Centre for Education Statistics: Washington, D.C.

[9]

Bhandari and M. Shore, “Access to an instructional control laboratory experiment through the World Wide Web,” American Control Conference, Vol. 2, 1998, pp. 1319-1325.

[10]

Latchman, H. A., Saltzmann, Ch., Gillet, D. and Bouzekri, H., "Information Technology Enhanched Learning in Distance and Conventional Education", IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON EDUCATION, Vol 42, No 4., November 99, pp 247-254.

[11]

Bourne, J. R., Brodersen, A. J., Campbell, J. O., Dawant, M. M. and Shiavi, R. G., "A Model for On-line Learning Networks in Engineering Education", Journal of Engineering Education, July 1966, pp 253-262.

[12]

Shen, H., Xu, Z., Dalager, B., Kristiansen, V., Strom, O., Shur, M. S., Fjeldly, T. A., Lü, J. and Ytterdal, T., "Conducting Laboratory Experiments over the Internet", IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON EDUCATION, Vol 42, No 3., August 99, pp 180-185.

[13]

Distance-Learning Remote Laboratories using LabVIEW, National Instruments, 11500 North Mopac Expressway • Austin, TX 78759-3504 USA Tel: (512) 683-0100 • Fax: (512) 794-8411 • E-mail: info@ni.com

[14]

Manual, National Instruments, 11500 North Mopac Expressway • Austin, TX 78759-3504 USA Tel: (512) 683-0100 • Fax: (512) 794-8411 • E-mail: info@ni.com

[15]

Carlo Sapijaszko and Genevieve I. Sapijaszko, “An Electronics Laboratory System for On Campus and Distance Learning Applications,” 2005 CIEC Conference ETD, 2005, Savannah, Georgia

 

 

Biography

 

Wael Ibrahim, is the Associate Dean for Computer Electronics Technology at ECPI College of Technology. Dr. Ibrahim has over thirteen years experience in education at the university level. He has an extensive experience in curriculum development for in-seat and online environments. His research interests are geared towards three main categories which are basic understanding of physical phenomena, engineering applications and engineering education enhancement.

 

 

RASHA MORSI is an Assistant professor  in the Department of Engineering at Norfolk State University. She has a B.Eng. degree from King’s College, University of London (1991), an M.E. in Computer Engineering (1996), and a Ph.D. in Electrical and Computer Engineering (2002) from Old Dominion University. Her research interests include Digital Cellular Mobile Communication Networks and Protocols, Object Oriented Modeling and Simulation, and Technology Based Engineering Education.