As administrators stretch to bring more prestige to WPI, a new type of undergraduate degree program has started this year. Over the summer, WPI in association with United Technologies Corporation (UTC), which includes the companies Pratt & Whitney, Carrier, and Sikorsky, devised a distance learning degree program. The program offers a Bachelors of Science degree in Manufacturing Engineering to employees of these companies who for some reason do not posses a BS. The students take two classes a term for five terms over five years. Like any undergraduate at WPI, the distance learning students will have to complete all three major projects before receiving their degrees.
Distance learning is a broad term that includes all kinds of ways of teaching students who are not geographically in the same place as the teacher. The courses are taught using either PictureTel (interactive video) or video taped lectures with outside contact hours via e-mail, telephone, and fax. Although many people believe that distance learning is new, WPI has been offering graduate courses via distance learning since the 1970s. WPI's Fire Protection Engineering program has been offering distance learning graduate degrees for some time now. Some high schools have also taken advantage of PictureTel to teach students. Al Sacco's lecture form the space shuttle to local area high schools is one of the
best known examples of this interactive distance learning technology. The truly unique thing about the proposed UTC program is a full undergraduate degree will be issued to students who may never have seen the school that their BS is from.
Despite potential pitfalls, the UTC distance learning program has been implemented. Between thirty and forty students from six different locations signed up to take this program. A program of the classes was
sent to all the students and as of the beginning of A term, classes began. The two classes, MA-1021 (Calculus I) and HI-1332 (Introduction to History of Technology), are taught two evenings a week in the IMC's TV-studio to accommodate these PictureTel lectures. The classes are taught by tenure track WPI professors and have the same format as the regular undergraduate courses (HI-1332 is being taught to both on campus and distance students at the same time).
Although the program has been implemented, much concern has been raised about the ability of WPI to offer a full undergraduate degree to distant students. There are several administrative and academic problems that must be solved. The undergraduate catalog specifically states a very strict residency requirement which states that the students must complete at least two years in residence at WPI. Many classes taught at WPI have a required lab, but laboratory work is impossible to complete without access
to the right facilities. Who will sponsor the Sufficiency and IQP, and how will these students go about finding an advisor for these projects? Courses are offered only once, what happens to a student who NRs, will they have to drop out of the program? These students lack the library access, face-to-face interactions with the professors and TAs, and the help of other students who already took the class. The final, and some argue the most important, concern is that the fundamental question of the "quality" of the education of students via distance learning and if it will jeopardize the reputation of the WPI degree program.
Distance learning is sure to be a hot discussion on campus over the weeks and months to come. This is an important issue that may seriously effect the image and reputation of the WPI degree. The UTC students will receive the same degree that each of us receives. How will this alter employers and academia's perception of the WPI degree? This is an issue that needs your opinions. Your are encouraged to engage your professors in discussion about this topic and make your views known. The Student Government has representatives sitting on the three faculty committees addressing this issue. They are Gregory Snow (grsnow@wpi.edu) and Jennifer Johnson (hick@wpi.edu) on the Committee on Academic Policy, Ben Petro (cobalt@wpi.edu) and Ed Hallissey (indy@wpi.edu) on the Committee on Academic Operations, and Michael Marks (mikem@wpi.edu) on the Committee on Governance. Please let these representatives know your views on this important issue.