| 1. |
- Abeyweera, Ruchira, et al.
(författare)
-
Capacity Building Through a Web Based Master Degree Programme in Sustainable Energy Engineering
- 2017
-
Ingår i: PROCEEDINGS OF 2017 IEEE GLOBAL ENGINEERING EDUCATION CONFERENCE (EDUCON2017). - : IEEE. - 9781509054671 ; , s. 800-805
-
Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- Open Distance Learning is gaining popularity as a successful alternative for on-campus higher education especially with the emergence of web based platforms which enable the online delivery of courses worldwide. This emerging educational pedagogy can successfully be employed as means of capacity building of the people living in the less fortunate parts of the world where higher education especially at master level are scarce. This paper presents a two-year collaborative master study programme in sustainable energy engineering offered in synchronous with an on-campus study programme conducted by the KTH Royal Institute of Technology of Sweden, to students of Sri Lanka, which was facilitated by the Open University of Sri Lanka. The paper describes the need of such a programme, the format of course delivery and assessment thereof, plus the benefits gained. This programme has produced 72 post graduates in Sri Lanka alone and more than 200 distant postgraduates worldwide in the field of sustainable energy engineering during last 10 years period. In terms of capacity building in the energy sector in Sri Lanka this is considered a great achievement. The experience gained by the local staff in the role of local facilitators who engaged in some of the academic related activities such as evaluation of students' presentation and co-supervision of thesis projects have been greatly appreciated as being additional benefits to the staff in terms of their own academic development and capacity building. Finally, conclusions are made on how remote programmes of study could successfully be delivered to places where such know-how is scarce by adapting appropriate technologies in training personnel at postgraduate level to meet the needs of the industry.
|
|
| 2. |
- Kithsiri, U. G., et al.
(författare)
-
A Remote Mode Master Degree Program in Sustainable Energy Engineering : Student Perception and Future Direction
- 2018
-
Ingår i: 20th International Conference on Interactive Collaborative Learning, ICL 2017. - Cham : Springer Verlag. ; , s. 673-683
-
Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- Remote mode higher education at postgraduate level is becoming popular among students because of flexible learning opportunity and the accessibility to study programs offered by renowned universities in the world. Fast development of internet facilities and learner management systems along with the development of remote educational pedagogy have been the driving force behind the acceptance and development of distant mode study programs. The success of such a study programs is largely affected by several factors that are unique to the university that offers the study program and the demography of participants as well as infrastructure and the student support available at the receiving end. In the present study, the successes and the drawbacks as perceived by the participants of a distant master study program are evaluated. The study program considered was the Sustainable Energy Engineering Worldwide (SEEW) master degree program which was offered by the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH) in Sweden to students in Sri Lanka (Apart from Sri Lanka, SEEW was offered by KTH to some other countries; Zimbabwe, Ethiopia, Mauritius). The objective of offering the SEEW master program was to assist the developing nations to build up human resources with expertise in sustainable energy generation and utilization, hence contributing to national development. As such the program also generally contributes to global efforts of alleviating unfavourable environmental impacts connected with power generation and utilization. The SEEW master program consisted of 120 ECTS (ECTS: European Credit Transfer System) and the courses were offered over three semesters followed by a research project of 30 ECTS during the fourth semester. Lectures were delivered synchronous with the parallel KTH on-campus study program in real time through internet with the support of a learner management system. The students were attached to the Open University of Sri Lanka (OUSL) for providing academic support where necessary and for the supervision of written and online examinations. The first enrolment consisted of 21 students in intake 2008 and the program was conducted with varying student numbers until the intake 2010. A total of 72 students have successfully completed the SEEW program and they are at presently employed in key organizations in the energy sector as well as in national universities in Sri Lanka. The paper focusses on eight key areas that the students have identified as vital for success for this type of programs. These key areas are the effectiveness of web tools used, standard of teaching, standard of course content, examination procedures, online assessment, thesis projects, benefit to the students, and benefits to facilitating university. In the study 36 students responded to survey and overall rating of the program successfulness was identified as 72%.
|
|
