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| Description: | This presentation will describe the Masters of Fire Engineering program at the University of Canterbury. The program is designed to take motivated engineering graduates with little prior knowledge about fire engineering to an “expert” level in just 18 months. WebCT is used to provide a single portal for students to access study guides, assignments, audio presentations, quizzes, projects, discussion forms and email. |
| Presentation Format: | Oral |
| Topic: | Enabling learning: Effective instructional practices and flexible design models |
| Target Audience: | Course Designers, Faculty and Other Instructors, E-learning Managers |
| Appropriate Audience Level: | Beginning or new users of WebCT, Experienced WebCT users |
| WebCT Version: | |
| Abstract Text: | In 1994, the University of Canterbury established a Masters of Fire Engineering degree with the goal of producing skilled graduates to fill the need generated by changes in the national building code. The challenge faced by the University was to develop a master of engineering degree in which the entering students come from different engineering disciplines with little or no knowledge of the subject. In addition to developing the curriculum, the staff was also faced with the challenge of offering the degree to any qualified student anywhere in New Zealand. This paper describes the Masters of Fire Engineering distance learning program which has evolved over the last decade. The program produces a dozen graduates per year with a 90% success rate. A traditional New Zealand university engineering graduate degree is modeled on the European system, which develops the students’ research and problem solving skills by building on their existing undergraduate knowledge base. Course work during a graduate degree is typically required only on topics where the student requires additional skills to complete his or her individual research project, i.e. thesis. In Fire Engineering, the entering students do not normally have the necessary knowledge to conduct their research, so six specific courses are required before the students start their thesis research. The six courses all use the same basic structure with adaptations depending on the subject material and individual instructor’s style. The courses range from highly theoretical to totally applied. The program utilizes a combination of guided self-study and two 3-day intensive block visits per course. WebCT, provides a single portal for students to access, study guides, assignments, audio presentation, quizzes, projects, discussion forms and email. The 3-day block courses are used for live problem solving discussions, hands on and demonstrative laboratories, and group research projects. |
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