Distance Learning Into The 21 St Century
M.H. Hayes, Lonnie D. Harvel
Abstract
The Georgia Institute of Technology is in a unique position of having a campus located across the Atlantic in the heart of the Lorraine region of France.Offering masters degree programs in electrical and mechanical engineering, Georgia Tech Lorraine (GTL) must deliver more courses than can be staffed by resident faculty.Consequently, GTL must offer courses by videotaping courses that are taught by faculty at the Georgia Tech campus in Atlanta.Delivering courses by videotape, however, is relatively expensive, introduces a two week delay between the two sections of the courses, and is not the most convenient method of course delivery for the student.The internet, however, offers some unique opportunities for the remote delivery of courses.Over the last eighteen months, we have been delivering graduate courses between France and the U.S. using streaming media.In this paper, we describe the approaches that we have used, enumerate the investment in time and resources necessary to deliver these courses, and give some predictions for what we envision internet delivery of courses will be like in the 21 st century.