2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

In 2019, the University of British Columbia initiated a new multi-campus manufacturing engineering program involving two campuses situated over 400 km apart. Each institution would be responsible for managing its own curriculum and specialization within manufacturing engineering, with some courses being taught in a multi-campus instructional format. Multi-campus instruction (MCI), also known as distributed learning, is an instructional format that involves a single instructor in a classroom at one location (the "local" cohort) synchronously teaching “local” and "remote" cohorts of students that are situated at other campuses using teleconferencing.

Although well established in some areas, managing and delivering a new program in a multi-campus format presents several challenges, exacerbated by COVID-19, administrative hurdles, cultural differences between campuses, and institutional context including lab equipment. The benefits are significant with this mode of instruction growing in popularity at and other institutions within manufacturing engineering and other disciplines. Economies of scale, new audiences, cross-pollination of ideas, and access to additional lab resources all present benefits to programs extending beyond a single institution. Multi-campus education is also aligned with Education 4.0 as it encourages collaboration and adaptability while pushing educators to evolve teaching strategies that leverage technology to prioritize metrics, equity, accessibility, and pedagogical innovation (Hussin, 2018).

Two case studies representing two courses in the manufacturing engineering curriculum are examined with an emphasis placed on challenges encountered, adaptation to a changing teaching environment, and student experience of teaching and learning. The course instructors are interviewed with narratives examined through a constructionist paradigm based on grounded theory to explore themes and examine the efficacy of pedagogical and structural approaches within the context of each location and sociopolitical environment. Reflections on emerging themes and their connection to manufacturing engineering and Education 4.0 are discussed, with both opportunities and challenges for continuing program growth elucidated. Finally, understanding that multi-campus education is of growing interest to the community, some recommendations and best practices are proposed.