A Story of Online Construction Masters’ Project: Is an Active Online Independent Study Course Possible?

Abstract

With the availability of online teaching tools, educators got the opportunity to create learning environments for students that are flexible and user-friendly. Though being exciting and intuitive, this opportunity comes with great responsibility, as students may be lost in online education without any face-to-face (FTF) contact. Engaging online students becomes even harder in an independent research study course, where students are expected to perform a high level of self-directed work. It is a challenge to promote an online independent study, as students need to be active, engaged, motivated, and prepared in the virtual environment. Additionally, the non-traditional nature of online students requires flexibility and interactive teaching methods to sustain collaborative and connected learning. The Construction Management (CM) Masters’ Project at Jefferson is an independent research study that serves as the culminating experience in the program, where students choose their own project to produce a comprehensive Project Manual with an oral defense presented at the end of the semester. This paper identifies best practices for delivering an online Masters’ Project course, which is engaged, collaborative, real world-based, and grounded in the liberal arts and sciences. The methodology will include creation of online learning models, assessing principles of online independent study development, and evaluating the new online Masters’ Project delivery model with a pilot group of students. Results will be used to create guidelines and assessment methods for faculty, who teach online independent study courses and who are willing to embrace the emerging online education phenomenon in construction.