The Challenges Associated with Laboratory-Based Distance Education

Distance education as a standalone approach has grown tremendously in the past 10 years. The distance approach to education offers numerous benefits1: ■ Accommodates different learning styles and schedules ■ Uses various educational resources or media (paper, video, audio, online) as instructional tools ■ Allows use of multiple communication methods (e-mail, teleconference, video conference, instant messaging) ■ Supports self-directed and self-paced learning style and method Many students choose this type of education because full-time jobs, physical limitations, or other commitments prevent their participation in more traditional approaches to instruction. The other form of distance education, often called hybrid, supplements traditional classroom instruction with online resources. The instructors deliver classroom lectures, but homework, assignments, and supplemental material may be retrieved online. Automatic Identification and Data Capture (AIDC) is a junior-level course offered for a number of years to students predominately in the Industrial Technology and Computer Information Technology fields of study at Purdue University. Adoption of this course as part of the bachelor of science degree in Industrial Technology in 2002 by a number of Purdue University College of Technology sites across the state necessitated an evaluation of how to proceed with a laboratory-intensive course, to those distance sites that did not have comprehensive laboratory facilities. For two years, we offered on-campus and online versions of the course. We used a hybrid approach for the oncampus offering of the course, posting assignments, readings, and quizzes online in addition to classroom Computer competence influenced the performance differences between on-campus and distance students taking a lab-based course