Abstract
The need for continuing education is growing in our society as the work force has become more mobile and learning is a life-long process. Plans for new wind power installations around the world are extremely ambitious for the coming decades [1-2] and this creates an immediate demand for skilled engineers with specialized knowledge [3]. The demand may partly be addressed through an increase of life long learning opportunities and a greater variety of study modes like part-time, distance, and modular learning [4]. Higher education is entering a new era where practical skills and contact to the rapidly evolving labor market may be valued as much as traditional rankings and accreditation [5]. Online competency-based education has an enormous disruptive potential in this context.
Enrollment fees for traditional university programmes are soaring in countries like the US and UK and a new market for Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC) clearly reflects this. The Technical University of Denmark (DTU) offers a successful MOOC called ‘Wind Energy’, which has been completed by more than 2.000 learners so far. Analytics from the MOOC show that approximately 50% of the learners are already employed in a full-time job. This is an indicator of the market for online continuing education in the field of wind energy and has been a great motivation for establishing a full online Master’s programme about wind energy engineering at DTU.
The purpose of this paper is to outline a concept for an online part-time programme, which is currently used for education in wind energy and holds a potential for application within other engineering disciplines. Similarities and differences are examined between i) the online teaching and learning experience as opposed to education in a physical setting, and ii) a part-time programme for continuing education as opposed to full-time university programmes. The question is: Can an online Master’s programme for continuing education be used to build up capacity within engineering disciplines?
Enrollment fees for traditional university programmes are soaring in countries like the US and UK and a new market for Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC) clearly reflects this. The Technical University of Denmark (DTU) offers a successful MOOC called ‘Wind Energy’, which has been completed by more than 2.000 learners so far. Analytics from the MOOC show that approximately 50% of the learners are already employed in a full-time job. This is an indicator of the market for online continuing education in the field of wind energy and has been a great motivation for establishing a full online Master’s programme about wind energy engineering at DTU.
The purpose of this paper is to outline a concept for an online part-time programme, which is currently used for education in wind energy and holds a potential for application within other engineering disciplines. Similarities and differences are examined between i) the online teaching and learning experience as opposed to education in a physical setting, and ii) a part-time programme for continuing education as opposed to full-time university programmes. The question is: Can an online Master’s programme for continuing education be used to build up capacity within engineering disciplines?
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Title of host publication | Proceedings of the 46th SEFI Annual Conference 2018 : Creativity, Innovation and Entrepreneurship for Engineering Education Excellence |
| Number of pages | 8 |
| Publisher | Technical University of Denmark |
| Publication date | 2018 |
| Pages | 557-564 |
| ISBN (Print) | 978-2-87352-016-8 |
| Publication status | Published - 2018 |
| Event | European Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference 2018 - Technical University of Denmark, Kgs Lyngby, Denmark Duration: 17 Sept 2018 → 21 Sept 2018 Conference number: 46 https://www.sefi2018.eu/ http://www.sefi2018.eu/ |
Conference
| Conference | European Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference 2018 |
|---|---|
| Number | 46 |
| Location | Technical University of Denmark |
| Country/Territory | Denmark |
| City | Kgs Lyngby |
| Period | 17/09/2018 → 21/09/2018 |
| Internet address |
Keywords
- Online
- E-learning
- Continuing education
- Master's programme