Alternative Energy Education Using Alternative Design and Delivery

It is often said that a crisis is an opportunity in disguise. When faced with declining enrollments, the Electronic Engineering Technology (EET) faculty at Rock Valley College responded by tapping into two modern trends: the burgeoning field of sustainable energy systems, and the move towards online education. By adding a sustainable energy emphasis to the EET degree, the department prepares its students for the next generation of energy technology. By modifying its courses to be delivered in a hybrid format (lectures online, labs in person), the program offers a compatible option for students who have jobs and families that require more flexible course scheduling. There is a bold new mission for EET in the area of alternative energy. Sustainable Energy Systems (SES) professionals are needed to advance our nation's move toward freedom from fossil fuels. A curriculum has been designed based on the alternative energy job task analysis orchestrated by the Electronics Technicians Association, International. The resulting curriculum provides Alternative-Energy Integrator graduates and embeds a student learning outcomes assessment of that curriculum through industry-recognized, third-party certifications. The challenge to EET educators is to push the envelope of their comfort zones to tackle new interdisciplinary imperatives. Many students today are very comfortable learning from the internet. Hybrid educational experiences permit the lectures, and additional resources such as videos, to be delivered asynchronously, but paced to ensure timely completion. Laboratory activities are still conducted to provide students with hands-on experiences and direct interaction with their professors and other students. The design of alternative-format hybrid classes leads inherently to a detailed, concise, week-by-week course construction. This paper includes five sections: (1) Alternative Energy -A Comprehensive Overview, (2) Designing a Curriculum for Assessment, (3) The Pros and Cons of a Hybrid Course Design, (4) The Critical Issues of Enrollments and Employment, and (5) Conclusions and Future Development. The SES degree program curriculum at Rock Valley College finishes its first two years of delivery in June 2011.