Distance learning across the Atlantic

Abstract

The Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta is in a unique position of having a campus located across the Atlantic in the heart of the Lorraine region of France in the city of Metz. With Masters Degree programs in Electrical and Mechanical Engineering, Georgia Tech Lorraine (GTL) offers more courses than can be staffed by resident faculty. Therefore, GTL must offer a number of courses in EE, ME, and Mathematics by videotaping courses that are taught by faculty at the Georgia Tech campus in Atlanta. Delivering courses by videotape, however, is relatively expensive, introduces a two week delay between the two sections of the courses, and is not the most convenient method of course delivery for the student. In this paper, we describe the techniques that we have used in delivering graduate level EE courses in near real-time across six time zones using the Internet.