Logistics engineering through the Internet: A unique distance education experience

Logistics Spectrum, Oct-Dec 2000 by Blanchard, Benjamin S, McCade, Lisa J, Wolfe, Larry H

Introduction

Historically, the offering of training courses and formal academic programs through various forms of distance education has been popular since the late 1960s, with significant growth occurring through the past several decades. The basic objective has been to deliver courses and academic programs to various remote locations in response to the needs of individuals who are actively employed in industrial and government organizations, who need to upgrade their respective skills. Most of these individuals are not able to spend time away from their place of employment and on the campus of an academic institution.

Distance education has, through the years, assumed various models including: (1) the teaching of courses by faculty traveling from their respective institutions to designated off-campus sites on a weekly basis; (2) programs/courses being offered from different university campuses to off-campus sites via satellite television (one-way video, two-way audio); (3) programs/courses offered from different university campuses to remote locations via land lines (two-way video/audio such as VITEL/PICTEL); (4) programs/courses from various sources offered via the Internet (webbased instruction); and (5) various combinations of the above with different mixes of delivery. The first three models have been popular and in existence in many different locations, particularly since the mid 1980s. However, it has been the more recent development of the electronic commerce methods and the use of the Internet during the past several years that has enabled a great deal of expansion in this overall area of distance education. The objective herein is to describe a recent, and somewhat unique, experience associated with the offering of a logistics engineering course via the Internet. A brief description of the course is presented below along with some comments from the perspectives of the instructor, course administrator, and the student.

Course Description: Content And Structure

During the past several years, Portland State University (PSU), Portland, Oregon, has developed and is currently implementing a graduate program leading to a masters degree in systems engineering which is available and being offered completely through the Internet. This program utilizes the WebCT software package as the medium for delivery.', Within the context of this program, there are several electives to include a 4-quarter credit hour course, "Logistics Engineering." This course defines logistics as including a life-cycle approach to the acquisition, distribution, and the sustaining maintenance and support of systems. It also addresses the planning, design, procurement, and the integration of the various elements of support. It covers an introduction to logistics, the measures of logistics, logistics within the context of the systems engineering process, logistics/supportability analysis, and the management of logistics and supporting activities within each phase of the system life cycle; i.e., system design and development, production, system utilization, and the system retirement and material recycling/disposal phases. While the more traditional aspects of transportation, distribution, and issues pertaining to supply chain management are addressed, this course covers much more through its life-cycle approach as applied to systems (versus components and consumable items). Although the course is included within PSU's graduate program in Systems Engineering, it may be taken by qualified individuals who (1) are enrolled in a graduate program in some other institution and wish to use this as an elective and/or (2) wish to enroll as a non-degree student for the purposes of acquiring subject-matter knowledge.3

The logistics engineering course was offered for the first time during PSU's spring quarter, March 27-June 12, 2000. There were 21 students enrolled from 12 different locations (including six from outside of the United States). It was taught by Professor Ben Blanchard, originating from Blacksburg, Virginia, with the assistance of a course administrator, Lisa McCade, from Alexandria, Virginia. The students were located in Arizona (1), California (1), China (1), Florida (1), Italy (4), Luxembourg (1), Maryland (1), New Mexico (6), Oregon (1), Texas (1), Virginia (2), and Washington (1). Figure 1 illustrates the geographical distribution including the location of the offering institution, the instructor, course administrator and the students.

WebCT constitutes a software structure developed in the 1990s at the University of British Columbia that includes a number of attributes designed to facilitate the process of instruction. Figure 2 reflects the layout of the icons on the "SYSE 561 - Logistics Engineering" course homepage. One might start by reviewing the course description in the "Welcome Page" before proceeding further.3 Within the context of the homepage, there are a series of course tools (i.e., icons) that provide direct access to course material and important information for the student. These include a syllabus (course description, objectives, grading criteria), student/instructor homepages (introduction of the students, instructor, and administrator to promote good communications from the beginning), student guide (detailed guidelines to help the students relate to course structure and WebCT "operations"), course content (10 learning modules and 10 homework assignments), course events (calendar of activities and homework due dates), and quizzes/tests. There are also links to the monthly SOLE newsletter, SOLEtech and a 170-item logistics bibliography that provides additional discipline-related material. To help promote and facilitate the communications process, there are capabilities to include chat (synchronous communications with instructor and/or groups of students participating simultaneously), bulletin board (asynchronous communications with instructor and all students participating), and private mail (internal private e-mail between individuals and built within the WebCT structure). There is also a capability for adding video clips to facilitate the presentation of material. In addition to what is illustrated in Figure 2, there is the flexibility within the WebCT structure that will allow for the inclusion of other attributes as desired, with the ultimate objective of promoting "student friendliness" and "good communications."