Distance delivery and laboratory courses

When faced with the necessity of teaching a course at eight different locations separated by an average of more than fifty miles and a shortage of qualified lecturers for the subject area the Purdue School of Technology considered distance education. The implementation of distance delivery initially seemed to be impractical however, because the course which was under consideration was a laboratory course and required large, expensive laboratory equipment. Other difficulties included the conflict of evening class schedules at remote sites with the typical daytime class schedule of a traditional main campus, but the potential payoff was consistent quality instruction made accessible across the state of Indiana. This paper describes efforts at Purdue toward the remote delivery of laboratory-based courses, culminating in the Purdue School of Technology offering of an introductory manufacturing processes course to campuses of the Purdue Statewide Technology network. This paper very briefly outlines these plans. The difficulties and roadblocks to progress are discussed in addition to the specific methods and technologies to be employed. Lastly, plans are discussed for future development of methods and utilization of emerging technologies