Lessons learned on the way to implementing project-based courses by distance learning

Polytechnic introduced two-way video, two-way audio distance learning between two of its campuses in the Spring of 1995, and plans to offer some courses to corporate sites in the near future. Both undergraduate and graduate courses have been offered by distance learning, with instructors generally alternating sites for the undergraduate courses. Some of the courses have involved design or course projects as principal features of the offering. We anticipate this mode of operation increasing significantly, because of curriculum enhancements being introduced collaterally. In general, faculty buy-in has been more rapid than originally anticipated, particularly when it became clear that smaller enrollment courses could be offered more easily. The biggest problem areas to date have been in room layout and acoustics. In the project-oriented courses, the international mix of students (and accents) added to the challenge, as did the need for student teams to communicate between sessions and to present jointly. Methods of compensating and then enhancing are being implemented, and are reported.