DELIVERY OF ONLINE INSTRUCTION FOR LAND SURVEYING/GEOMATICS STUDENTS: ISSUES ENCOUNTERED AND BEST PRACTICES

Many states, including Texas, now require a bachelor’s degree for licensure as a professional land surveyor. Currently, only one university and a hand full of junior colleges in Texas offer land surveying degrees, and none of these offer a fully online degree. In a state the size of Texas this is problematic for individuals seeking licensure, who reside in areas where there is no land surveying program within a reasonable commute. College programs in other professional fields are using such tools as synchronous class meetings, pod casts, and streaming video to reach students in geographic areas far removed from their campuses. Like nursing, land surveying requires a certain amount of hands-on experience using the specific tools of the profession that is difficult to acquire without additional expense of both time and money. Issues that emerge because of the need for this hands-on experience include providing and supervising laboratory instructors and providing the necessary software and hardware to distant sites. This paper examines the issues that must be overcome by any institution that wishes to offer an online degree program in land surveying and will then propose a set of best practices that can be used by these institutions