Towards online engineering : fitting square pegs in round holes

ABSTRACT: As educators within Engineering faculties attempt to make their courses as attractive and available to students as possible, many are advocating the translation of course materials to an online format. By doing this they maintain that it will give greater flexibility to students who study off campus. But what kind of flexibility is required? Have educators thought through the process of online courses or are they merely creating another way of teaching the same materials? These problems are investigated om the perspective of both academics and administrators. While all educational institutions have rules and regulations, the organizational structures of those institutions should be such as to be able to accommodate students so that they are not unreasonably denied access to the very concept that educational institutions were created to administer - learning. This paper investigates the mindset of educational institutions, and the methods that may need to be introduced in order that engineering courses can be successfully translated to a flexible online environment.