Individual-centered education: An any one, any time, any where approach to engineering education

Engineering education is beset by many of the same challenges that have affected American industry. Much has been recommended and implemented to improve engineering education. However, the traditional structure of engineering education remains, even though current exigencies require a fundamental restructuring. In an earlier paper, the author proposed a para/professional model as an alternative to the traditional engineering degree structure (J.M. Tien, 1999). At a more detailed level, the paper proposes to restructure the very nature of how higher education is delivered: from a group-centered activity to an individual-centered approach that would allow any one to access educational material or multimedia courseware at any time and from any where. Fortunately, the enabling technologies for such an individual-centered approach are, for the most, available. Nevertheless, several challenges must be addressed before individual-centered education can become a reality.