Live Distance Learning Delivery of Master of Science
Courses in Building Construction Management
Kevin R. Behling, Joseph J. Orczyk, and James L. Jenkins
Purdue University, Department of Building Construction Management, West Lafayette, IN 47907 [email protected], [email protected], and [email protected]
Abstract - Making advanced degrees accessible to working practitioners traditionally has been fraught with compromises. Internet-based meeting technology is beginning to eliminate many of the shortcomings of distance learning. The authors have designed and begun delivering a Master of Science degree with minimal residency requirements. Twenty-nine of thirty-three credit hours are delivered via the internet in real time with full audio, video and digital interaction between the instructor and the students. The remaining four credits are delivered in four three-day, on-campus seminars. The program is in its second semester with seventeen students virtually attending classes from across the country. This paper details the design of the curriculum which blends many of the benefits of the traditional classroom and the advantages of distance learning. Distant and resident students attend classes together on Tuesday and Thursday evenings. Lessons learned will be described from the perspective of the instructor. This paper will help any faculty member interested in establishing a graduate degree program that can be delivered at a distance. Advice is provided on how to efficiently develop and deliver an individual course using a live, interactive, internet-based meeting protocol. Procedures for effectively creating a community of distant and resident students are detailed. Index Terms - Adobe Connect Professional, Construction
management, Distance learning, Practitioner learning
ASYNCHRONOUS VS.SYNCHRONOUS LEARNING
Distance education is not a new concept to higher education. Correspondence courses have been conducted since the nineteenth century for anyone desiring to expand personal knowledge or to further their careers [2]. Early modes of distance learning consisted of primarily "one way" or
asynchronous learning networks (ALN) by sending material
to students, receiving back individual assignments or test materials, and providing some means of limited one-to-one communication between the student and the instructor [3]. While the lack of two-way communication prevailed in early distance education courses, technological advances, especially in the areas of communication, has made possible the more efficient “storage, transfer, and sharing of information across vast distances and different time zones [4-5].” Therefore, with the development of the Internet, distance learning can now be presented in a synchronous learning mode, not just
asynchronously. Table 1 below illustrates the differences between traditional, asynchronous, and synchronous learning methods [6].
TABLE 1 MODES OF INSTRUCTION
Traditional Learning Same place Same time Synchronous Distance Learning Different place Same time Asynchronous Distance Learning Different place Different time
Within an asynchronous learning environment, learning and teaching takes place with a time delay and with the instructor and learner being physically separated from each other. While this type of learning offers the student flexibility in self-pace and study hours, it leads to little or no “personal” contact with faculty member and other students. Examples of this asynchronous learning, taken from the e-learning site Web site include:
• self-paced courses taken via Internet or CD-Rom • videotaped classes
• stored audio/video Web presentations or seminars • recorded audio tapes
On the other hand, synchronous learning and teaching takes place in real time while the trainer and learners are physically separated from each other. Students must attend “class” during the regularly scheduled time, but receive communication with the instructor and fellow students that more closely parallels the traditional form of classroom discussion [7]. Examples include:
• listening to a live radio broadcast • watching a live television broadcast • audio/video conferencing
• live online lectures
DISTANCE LEARNING IN POST-SECONDARY INSTITUTIONS
An increasing number of colleges and universities worldwide offer distance learning, either through the use of recorded lectures (asynchronous) or via web-based instruction (asynchronous or synchronous). Data shown on the National Center of Education Statistics (NCES) website indicates that 56 percent (2,320) of all 2-year and 4-year post-secondary institutions offered distance education courses for all types of
students, including elementary and secondary, college, adult education, continuing and professional education. Twelve percent of all institutions indicated that they planned to start offering distance education courses in the next 3 years. Different methods are utilized amongst the institutions to conduct their distance education courses. In the NCES study survey, 90 percent of the institutions offering distance education courses reported they used asynchronous computer-based instruction. Additionally, 43 percent of institutions that offered distance education courses offered Internet courses using synchronous computer-based instruction, 51 percent used two-way video with two-way audio, and 41 percent used one-way prerecorded video as a primary mode of instructional delivery for distance education courses [8]. Note that the percentages sum to more than 100 percent because some institutions use different types of technologies as primary modes of instructional delivery for different distance education courses. As technology evolves and the quality of training improves, trends suggest that the number online distance education courses will also grow.
ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF DISTANCE
EDUCATION
The information listed below, selected from the Internet
SOCiety (ISOC) website illustrates the advantages and
disadvantages of the students, professors, and institutions involved with distance learning on the World Wide Web [9]:
Advantages for Students:
• accessibility for those with restricted mobility (e.g., handicapped, injured, elderly)
• accessibility for those living away from the training center, in the far regions, or in other countries • flexibility for those with irregular work schedule • accessibility for those with family duties (e.g., parents
with young children at home) • self-paced learning
• just-in-time learning (up-to-date/current topics) • no waste of time in transport
Disadvantages for Students:
• loss of direct interaction with the professor and the other students
• loss of direct, immediate feedback
• loss of motivation and high rate of failures and drop-outs • difficulty to organize teamwork
• no access to the library
• the difficulty of personal work with no temporal constraints
• problem of isolation
• the quality of presentation depends on the student's system
• high degree of independence/self-directed learning (asynchronous)
• self-motivation to meet deadlines (asynchronous)
Advantages for Professor:
• possibility of a larger audience
• no repetition in the classroom (one-time presentation) • more time available to prepare and upgrade the course • acquisition of a new experience
Disadvantages for Professor:
• loss of the dynamics of the class
• no visual contact and low feedback from the students • difficult to evaluate the student's work
• workload increase at the beginning
• redefinition of the professor's role and tasks
• complexity of the copyright and the author's rights for electronic documents
Advantages for the Institution:
• no need of building additional facilities • easy access to an international clientele • international visibility
• possibility of additional incomes • measurable returns on investments
Disadvantages for the Institution:
• high initial costs (hardware, software) • scarcity of specialists on the Internet • problems with credits evaluation
• necessity of redefining the professors' duties and roles • difficult to define with precision the role of the institution
concerning the rules and procedures with the Web
DISTANCE LEARNING VIA THE INTERNET
With the continuing popularity of the internet, it is not surprising that the World Wide Web has become the new frontier of distance education and learning. Hiltz asked if it was possible to build a virtual classroom - an interactive communication and learning space located within a computer system [10]. Could a “computer-mediated communication system create an electronic analogue of the communication forms that usually occur in a classroom, including discussion, as well as lectures and tests?” Today’s technology grants success in these areas. While software packages such as Adobe Breeze (recently renamed as Acrobat Connect Professional) facilitates the distribution of lecture information and the giving/taking of tests or quizzes, it is the live communication available through on-line meetings that is the core element. Hawisher and Pemberton report a correlation between the success of an online course and the value instructors placed on communication with and among students [11]. Similarly, Bull, Kimball, and Stansberry found that learning is more effective in an online course if there is interaction among learners [12]. Therefore, synchronous communication between instructor–student and student– student interaction should be a crucial feature of any interactive online course [13]. The following case study of graduate courses presented online in the Department of Building Construction Management at Purdue University and illustrates the use of Adobe Breeze for synchronous, interactive distance education delivery, including real-time instructor feedback.
PURDUE DEPARTMENT OF BUILDING CONSTRUCTION
MANAGEMENT
Purdue University’s Department of Building Construction Management (BCM) is part of the College of Technology (CoT). Back in the late 1980’s, the BCM faculty began planning for a construction management masters degree. During the period from 1990 to 2005, only a few students received a masters degree in CoT with construction management as their primary area. The master degree enrollment in construction management never rose above eight students. The BCM faculty believed that this low enrollment was due to the following factors:
• Construction management employers do not reward advanced degrees. Starting salaries for masters students were the same as for the undergraduate students.
• Since 1990 there has been 100% placement for all undergraduate and graduate students, and the industry enjoys full employment.
• Construction management professional are not willing to give up their full-time jobs to become full-time students. After 15 years of virtually no growth in graduate construction management student enrollment, change occurred rapidly in the 2005 – 2006 academic year. Enrollment jumped from no graduate students in January 2006 to 14 students in August 2006. This growth was the result of a new distance learning program developed in conjunction with a proposal submitted to the Associated General Contractors (AGC) of America, a national trade association comprised of more than 33,000 firms. In August, 2005 AGC issued the following Request for Proposals (RFP):
The Associated General Contractors of America (AGC) is accepting proposals for the development of a masters degree programs in construction science and/or engineering. The degree program must be housed in a school or department that also offers an undergraduate construction degree accredited by the American Council for Construction Education in Construction or the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology in Construction Engineering or Construction Technology. [1]
The BCM faculty saw this RFP as an opportunity to increase the number of graduate construction management students. The faculty and administration developed a formal curriculum and delivery system in response to the AGC RFP. The Purdue BCM curriculum was submitted in response to the AGC RFP and was one of four programs accepted. The BCM department publicized the program to both BCM alumni and companies that recruit BCM construction management students. Fourteen masters students enrolled for the Fall 2006 semester. Each student returned for the Spring 2007 semester, and they were joined by three new students.
The Purdue Graduate School has approved the curriculum as an “Area of Specialization” or AOS. The curriculum consists of nine three-credit courses, three one-credit
seminars, and a three-credit directed project for a total of thirty-three credits. See Table I for the course titles. Note that after the fifth semester the course offerings begin again with Semester One. The Research Basics Seminar is a prerequisite to the Analysis of Research in Construction course. None of the other courses or seminars is a prerequisite for another course. Therefore, students may begin the program in any semester except for the summer. The Emerging Construction Technologies Seminar will be different each time it is offered and it can be taken twice for credit.
TABLE 2
CONSTRUCTION MANAGEMENT AREA OF SPECIALIZATION
Semester One (fall)
BCM 581A Preconstruction Project Management
BCM 581B Construction Quality and Productivity Improvement BCM 581J Emerging Construction Technologies Seminar
Semester Two (spring)
BCM 581C Construction Operations, Management, and Strategy BCM 581F Construction Accounting, Finance, and Marketing BCM 581M Research Basics Seminar
or BCM 598 Directed MS Final Presentation
Semester Three (summer)
BCM 581H Analysis of Research in Construction BCM 598 Directed MS Project
Semester Four (fall)
BCM 581D Construction Law and Change Management BCM 581L Construction Management Training and Development BCM 581J Emerging Construction Technologies Seminar
Semester Five (spring)
BCM 581G Risk Management in Construction Management BCM 581E Construction Company Leadership
BCM 581M Research Basics Seminar or 598 Directed MS Final Presentation
Every fall and spring semester begins with an intensive three-day seminar on the Purdue University campus in West Lafayette, Indiana. These seminars allow the students to meet the on-campus students as well as the instructors. For weeks #2 through #15 the classes are offered in a virtual environment through Adobe Breeze (originally Macromedia Breeze and now re-branded as Adobe Acrobat Connect Professional). The students use a computer, webcam, and hands-free microphone/earphone headset, to listen to lectures, view presentations, and participate in discussions. After the on-campus seminar during the first week, classes meet from 7:00 to 9:30 p.m. eastern time on Tuesday and Thursday evenings each week for the rest of the semester. Each student must be present at their computer for the live interactive class. In addition to the hardware, the students also need Adobe Flash, a free download through the Adobe Web site. The Adobe Breeze host program is provided by Purdue University.
INSTRUCTIONAL PROBLEM
The basic program development problem was how to provide graduate education for construction practitioners. However, this problem was complicated by several factors. Two of the issues were related to the practitioners. First, the program must have limited residency requirements. In a booming construction industry, practitioners could not be expected to resign from their jobs or to take a leave of absence to become full-time students, even if for just one semester. Second, the program must be designed to not interfere with working hours. While evening course offerings seemed like a simple solution at first, this issue became more complicated when students from all over the United States including both coasts enrolled. There were students from all four continental time zones in the program. As a result, classes are being offered from 7:00 to 9:30 p.m. eastern time. The other problem was that the proposed instructors in the program desired to avoid asynchronous distance delivery because of concerns about its efficacy, student attrition and lack of interaction and feedback.
INSTRUCTIONAL SOLUTION
The instructional solution was developed very early in the response to the AGC RFP. The first author of this paper had attended many seminars and short courses during his ten years in industry. Therefore, he had some personal experience opinions regarding what constituted a good (or great) continuing education experience. One experience that he particularly enjoyed was the AGC Construction Project Manager Course held in Dallas in January, 1994. The course consisted of an intensive Sunday afternoon to Friday afternoon, 7:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. daily activity schedule. Attendees started the morning with breakfast and then spent the entire day, including meals, together attending classes, working on projects and even playing basketball or football during afternoon breaks. It was a very effective community-building technique.
Since learning community development was a priority for the program, it was decided that mandatory face-to-face seminars would be incorporated at the beginning of each fall and each spring semester. These one-credit intensive seminars begin with dinner on Tuesday night and wrap up with student presentations on Friday morning. On Wednesday and Thursday evenings, the distant students attend the first meeting of their semester-long courses along with the resident students to further build community and to organize groups for class projects.
The real breakthrough in achieving the synchronous, interactive delivery model came when the first author attended an Information Technology at Purdue (ITaP) meeting for new faculty members. One of the technologies demonstrated at the meeting was a product called Macromedia Breeze (now Adobe Acrobat Connect Professional). The software allowed meeting participants to broadcast and to receive live video and audio using inexpensive webcams and headsets. Upon witnessing the demonstration, a technology solution had been identified for delivering the course content in a synchronous,
interactive approach. Coupled with WebCT and e-mail, Breeze was going to help solve the instructional problem.
WebCT is used to distribute documents such as PowerPoint presentations and to provide a portal to the Breeze meeting rooms. In addition to classroom meeting rooms, each student has his or her own room in the Breeze system. These rooms are used for breakout sessions during classes and for student collaboration on projects and meetings outside of class. These rooms are available to the students twenty-four hours per day, seven days a week. E-mail and WebCT are used for the distribution of announcements and document attachments when appropriate.
In the spirit of the learning community, the resident students simply do not sit in the room with the instructor as the course is delivered via Breeze. The resident students sit at a computer in the room with the instructor and receive the same experience as the distant students. The resident and distant students attend class “together” while literally being thousands of miles apart. The resident students benefit from the industry experience of their distant classmates. The distant students benefit from the computer savvy and access to campus resources, such as the library, that the resident students have. In general, the distant students have between 4 and 22 years of industry experience while the resident students tend to be traditional graduate students with limited industry experience.
LESSONS LEARNED
The experiences of the first semester of course offerings have yielded several lessons learned and mostly positive outcomes. So far, the limitations have been very minor while the successes have been substantial. Breeze has a built-in recording feature that allows the instructor to archive the lecture for future playback. These recordings are made available via an URL link to students on a case-by-case basis when a student has an excused class absence or when the lecture content is particularly relevant to completing an assignment. One problem area for which a solution has not been found is that certain animations within PowerPoint may cause the video, but not audio, to accelerate during playback of the recording. As a result, animations in PowerPoint are presently being avoided. After several class sessions, the share file list can become overfilled which makes loading additional files difficult. This problem can be overcome by deleting old files through the Pods - Organize Pods… menu item. If deleting old files from the system is not desired, a new meeting room can be set up. Setting up new rooms is simply a matter of copying a meeting room template and only takes a few minutes.
Another challenge is the demonstration of software or spreadsheets. Occasionally, the instructor would like to show how to operate a spreadsheet template or a software application. To do this, the instructor must opt to share his screen instead of showing a document. When sharing the screen, the instructor can no longer monitor the chat functions and therefore is “cut off” from the students. A workaround to
this problem is to either work the demonstration in a window next to a windowed Breeze session or to use a dual monitor setup. A significant problem early in the semester was occasional Breeze meeting room crashes which occurred two or three times. It appears that software updates to the Breeze package have taken care of this problem, but two backup rooms are maintained on the WebCT portal site, and students know to go to the first backup room if a crash occurs.
Breeze is a very intuitive, easy-to-operate software package. However, like any sophisticated software package, there are some settings that may need adjustment for optimal performance. First, it is important for students to set their “my connection speed” setting to DSL (or even modem) to improve the audio performance of the system. There is a tendency for people to think that the LAN setting will yield better audio, but it is one of those counter-intuitive things. At the same time, it is important for students to obtain the best possible high-speed internet connection. Most of the students attend class from home, and DSL and Cable are viable connections. The instructor should also set the room bandwidth to DSL (instead of LAN) to provide a better audio experience for the attendees.
Two other practices that help in the audio and video telecommunications involve microphones and webcams. Using a still shot instead of live video saves precious bandwidth for more important information such as the audio stream. Turning off microphones when presenting but not speaking improves the audio in the classroom by not adding extraneous sounds to the audio stream. Something as simple as the cooling fan on a laser printer in the room with a student can be an unnecessary distraction.
The Breeze meeting room is a series of “pods” which can be moved and resized. However, care should be taken to not move or size pods during class as this may disrupt the audio stream. Pods include camera & voice, polls, chat, attendee list, whiteboard, notes, discussion notes, share, file share, and web links. A single room can actually have multiple screens with multiple pod layouts. The classes use a room with three layouts: sharing, discussion and collaboration. Each screen has its purpose. Most of the class time is spent on the sharing screen where PowerPoint and other types of files can be shared. The discussion screen is used to facilitate classroom discussions such as brainstorming sessions. The collaboration screen includes a large whiteboard which the instructor can use like a chalkboard for drawing illustrations during class. Please refer to the screenshot included as Figure 1 for depiction of the sharing layout.
FIGURE 1 SHARING LAYOUT
Managing the Breeze classroom requires some multi-tasking by the instructor. In addition to making, for example, a PowerPoint presentation, the instructor must monitor the chat pod for student questions. While potentially intimidating at first, this technique is not unlike monitoring the traditional classroom audience for raised hands. There are several other classroom management techniques that are helpful. First, students should e-mail their presentations before class to the instructor for pre-loading into the Breeze room. This practice makes for more efficient use of class time as converting PowerPoint files for use in Breeze, while automatic, consumes some class time if not done before class.
If the students are making presentations, it can help the instructor to elevate students to presenter status during the preceding presentation so that they can turn on their cameras and begin presenting as soon as the preceding group or student completes their presentation. There is another way to achieve this goal which involves changing the “enhanced participant rights,” but this setting must be made on a student-by-student basis and may not save the instructor much time. Lastly, it is sometimes helpful to clean up the Breeze room at the end of class so that it is ready to go the next time. Cleaning up the room includes items like clearing the chat function, stop sharing the presentation, clearing polls and other miscellaneous items. While not directly related to Breeze, the instructors are also contemplating additional uses for WebCT including online quizzes and assignment submission.
The initial semester with Breeze has been a success, but continuous improvement is a goal of the instructors. Several potential improvements have been identified. The first is that instructors should consider using the built-in whiteboard more frequently. Since the instructors use a tablet PC, writing on the “virtual chalkboard” is relatively simple and effective, and this practice will make the Breeze room have more of the look and feel of a real classroom. To facilitate instructors who prefer
the chalkboard over PowerPoint, the first two authors of this paper will be exploring a hardware solution called “Team Board” that allows the instructor to write on a full size wall-mounted white markerboard that interfaces with a computer. However, it is not known at this time whether or not the “Team Board” hardware will interface with Breeze. Another hardware improvement being explored is the use of a conference microphone and speaker for resident classroom; however, resident students will still need a headset for any breakout sessions. And, a larger pen-based display also is being researched to better enable annotations of presentations.
SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION
Adobe Breeze is an online communication system that provides tools for Web conferencing, online meetings, and multimedia presentations. With this system the Purdue University Department of Building Construction Management is able to provide graduate educational opportunities to construction management professionals anywhere in the world. The only requirements are high speed internet access and being available from 7:00 to 9:30 p.m. eastern time. Breeze provides a viable and robust solution to the problem of synchronous, interactive distance education without the need for expensive television equipment and dedicated rooms or studios. The students are enthusiastic about the distance format. They have been able to work towards a graduate degree while keeping their full time positions. Table 3 summarizes the end of semester evaluation for one of the courses delivered by distance learning.
TABLE 3
COURSE EVALUATION FOR BCM581B,CONSTRUCTION QUALITY & PRODUCTIVITY IMPROVEMENT
Median
Item Rating
The distance learning format is effective 4.1 My instructor is always considerate of distance students 4.4
My instructor tailors instruction to distance students' varying needs/interests 4.2 The course makes excellent use of technology 4.1
Internet interaction between the instructor & student is appropriate 4.2 Internet interaction between the students in the class is appropriate 4.4
The design/interactivity of this course is appropriate for Internet delivery 4.3
Overall I would rate this course as: 4.1 Rating Scale: Excellent=5, Good=4, Fair=3, Poor=2, Very Poor=1
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