Can Distance Learning Be Used to Teach Automotive Management Skills?

Abstract

Today's automotive college students will shape the future of the automobile industry. The success of college-level automotive programs has long been dependent on the students' ability to participate in hands-on classroom based interactions. In this article, distance learning and how it can be used to teach automotive management skills, as well as why it is important for students to learn from places such as home or work, are discussed. Distance learning, an increasingly popular trend of content delivery, requires teachers to take on multiple roles. In addition to responding to individual students, facilitators moderate discussions and manage the flow of content through activities and assessments. To help understand how distance learning might be used to teach automotive management skills, and to provide an opportunity for automotive students to learn these vital skills in non-traditional settings, a sample distance education course for the automotive department at Farmingdale State College has been developed. The project has taken into account many areas of related research in cognitive learning patterns of college students with regard to distance education and traditional automotive skill building courses.