Experience with Online Delivery of an Engineering Technical Elective Course

MIE 515, Alternative Energy Systems, an engineering technical elective course open to senior undergraduates and graduate students, was delivered as an on line course for Fall 2011. This is the first time an undergraduate engineering course at the University of Toronto has been offered online. The course is also one of five pilot online courses across the University. The move online is being accomplished in two steps. For Fall 2011, a small lecture section of 25 students was used as a setting for video capture and the remaining 110 students accessed the course lectures online asynchronously. A live tutorial was offered once a week. All students were physically present for the midterm examination and the final examination. For Fall 2012, the course will be delivered entirely online, with the exception of student physical presence for the two examinations. Pedagogical and technical lessons learned during this transition year will be presented. The benefits and drawbacks of online delivery will be discussed from the perspective gained this year and compared with our expectations. Student feedback will also be presented and discussed.