Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/1344205
March 2021 / 7 INDUSTRY PERSPECTIVE PBE Todd Smith, business/strategy manager, Bulk Solids Innovation Center Adult professional education: Teaching and learning in a virtual world M uch has been written about the effects of remote learning on schoolchildren. But what about online college and adult professional education? My colleagues and I here at the K-State Bulk Solids Innovation Center (BSIC) have gained a lot of experience teaching online and hybrid courses during the past year. Remote teaching has big advantages and disadvantages, but after talking to numerous profes- sors and students, two things stand out: 1. Remote and online learning aren't as good as in-person learning; and 2. If we work hard and are smart about it, we can make remote and online learning better. Let's discuss the three main types of engineering and professional education for adults. They include col- lege courses, webinars, and short courses/continuing education. College Some college courses lend themselves well to remote learning and some don't. Students tell me that the lec- ture-only classes are the best for remote learning. Math and English have been mentioned as good examples. But even so, students feel shortchanged because com- munication with instructors — and especially with other students — is missing. College engineering courses rely on hands-on labs to reinforce understanding and help prepare students, but can an e-Lab prepare students for the real world? Impressive improvements have been made, such as purchasing and using virtual lab software for learning and testing robotics programming and providing kits to each student for a home electronics lab. But those approaches really work mainly within the confines of the software developer's plans. Virtual labs don't let the student really feel, see, or hear what's going on. More- over, planning and developing the online courses is a lot more work for the instructors — the classes are first- class quality only if the instructor has been willing to put forth extraordinary effort to make them that way. Webinars Webinars are the winners of the past year in this writ- er's opinion. All of us have more time for webinars since we aren't traveling, and we need some variety in our isolated day. Webinars fit the bill because they're free, short, and available on a variety of important topics. And since many only last an hour, instructors really don't have to up their game much to make the quality of education acceptable. Short courses and continuing education Short courses and continuing education classes have been a primary activity at the BSIC since we opened 5 years ago. These in-depth classes are popular because the information and topics covered are needed infor- mation that isn't taught in college or in very many other places. Half of these courses are lectures, and we've learned that to be effective, online lectures need to be more engaging and must push students for interaction and feedback. We've also learned that highlighting and focusing on slides and using more animation helps improve learning during these presentations. But every student's favorite part of these courses is the 50 percent of time that we spend with equipment and systems in our full-scale lab. Converting our hands-on demos into a real-time, interactive online format has been the most work, but it has been worth it. During the past year, instructors have had to learn many ways to improve online teaching, and the good news is that these improvements can remain even after we go back to in-person learning. A favorite pro- fessor told me that, "Virtual teaching and learning is more difficult, so it makes you concentrate on the things you really want to teach." That's a good lesson for all teachers. In summary, I believe that virtual teaching and learning can be fine, but like most things in life, it depends on the commitment and motivation level of those involved.