Student performance in an online postgraduate course on fibre composites for civil engineers

Abstract

This paper presents an evaluation on the performance of students from 2008-2011 in the Australia’s first online course on fibre composites for civil engineers. The evaluation focused on the overall performance of the students to determine the effectiveness of the course content and delivery. In its 4 years of delivery, the course gained significant popularity as seen by the increased in the number of enrolled students coming from different demographics. The introduction of innovative learning resources resulted in the increasing level of interest on the different study modules. There is also a high satisfaction of the students to the course as shown by their active participation, quality of overall performance and feedback. It was found out that postgraduate and senior undergraduate students performed better than students who have not taken the fundamentals of engineering design. Based on the results of this study, improvements are planned to further enhance the course delivery and to ensure a more effective student’s learning.