Gary Crossman

Does the Lack of Hands-On Experience in a Remotely Delivered Laboratory Course Affect Student Learning?.

Educators question whether performing a laboratory experiment as an observer (non-hands-on), such as conducted in a distance education context, can be as effective a learning tool as personally performing the experiment in a laboratory environment. The present paper investigates this issue by comparing the performance of distance education students with their on-campus counterparts in a junior-level fluid mechanics laboratory course over a three semester period. Using digital recording methods, the on-campus versions of the laboratory experiments were formatted to accommodate distance-education students who did not have access to campus facilities. This paper compares the assessment of student performance in demonstrating both learning of technical concepts and the ability to describe these in an effective written laboratory report.

Are Distance Laboratories Effective Tools for Technology Education

The ability to perform a laboratory experiment as a nonhands-on observer, such as in a distance education context, has been questioned by some educators who ponder whether distance education lab courses are as effective as those held in a physical laboratory environment. This article examines this issue and compares the performance of distance education students with their on-campus counterparts in a junior laboratory course. Data from six semesters are examined and presented. A regression model is developed to predict the performance of both distance education and on-campus students. Results of the model show that only report grades and location (whether distance education or on-campus) are statistically significant. In addition, statistical analysis of the six semesters of data shows equal performance of the two groups.

A CD-ROM based laboratory in fluid mechanics part II: course assessment and evaluation

This paper evaluates an existing distance learning fluid mechanics laboratory, MET 335 and compares it to the on-campus version of the course. The course was developed at Old Dominion University and offered for the first time in the spring of 2000 as a video-based laboratory on CD-ROM. The overall assessment of the distance learning laboratory is based on a detailed analysis of the different components of student evaluation for the course. The analysis of these results is in turn compared with similar analysis of other existing on-campus laboratory courses taught by the same instructor. The assessment of the distance learning laboratory course shows that the video-taped CD-ROM laboratory is an effective way of teaching this laboratory course.