For Dave Hultenius, making a nearly six-hour commute from Delhi to UB to pursue his master's degree in civil engineering wasn't a possibility. Nor was giving up his full-time job to come to Buffalo. Hultenius eventually found a way to circumvent circumstance-through UB's EngiNet distance-learning program. And this past February, he became the university's first-ever EngiNet graduate.

An assistant professor at Delhi State College of Technology, Hultenius enrolled in the program five years ago, taking one course per semester in order to balance school with his other priorities-work and family. Hultenius' situation somewhat parallels the difficulties his advisor Stuart Chen, associate professor of civil engineering, faced years ago.

Working full-time as an engineer in New Jersey, Chen started working on a graduate program part-time, commuting 75 minutes each way to campus twice a week. He eventually quit his job to attend school full-time.

"That memory has stuck with me, and it influenced my willingness to teach a distance-learning course the first time I was asked," said Chen, who has invested considerable effort into "getting a coherent distance-learning program together."

Chen-who has taken to the task of recruiting colleagues to participate in EngiNet since it was established in 1994 as a consortium of engineering schools at the university centers of UB, Stony Brook and Binghamton-said he empathizes with those who are at a distance disadvantage.

"There are lots of areas within the state where there's not convenient access to a graduate program in civil engineering," said Chen, citing as examples the Southern Tier or Rochester-residents of which would have to drive to Buffalo, Ithaca or Syracuse to find a program. EngiNet's reach extends well beyond New York, with many students coming from such locations as Georgia, the Dominican Republic, California, Texas, Pennsylvania, Indiana and Nevada. Fifty-seven students are enrolled this semester in the various engineering disciplines-19 alone in civil, structural and environmental engineering-and another 18 taking an on-site course taught at a local industry.

Master's students are required to complete 30 hours of coursework toward their degree. All courses are asynchronous, Chen explained, to promote an "anytime, anywhere" education. Some of the videotaped courses supplement with Web materials, but overall, Chen said, the process of integrating Web technology into the mix, for now, "is more evolutionary than revolutionary."

The courses are held in one of two distance classrooms used by engineering students and faculty, in Bell or Baldy halls, and are recorded by distance-learning staff who are best able to capture the lecture's audio and visual content.

While interactive video was used on one occasion so that Hultenius could present a class project "live"-incidentally, the first and only time both Hultenius and Chen saw each other during the five years-Chen said fully incorporating that mode into the program would defeat its purpose.

"If you wanted real-time interactive, you would have to be at a certain place, at a certain time," Chen said-something EngiNet students are working around. "So asynchronous frees you from that, at the cost of not having real-time interactive question-answer (period).”

In the scheme of things, Hultenius said earning his degree via UB’s EngiNet program was more a benefit—than burden—of technology.

“I often felt like I was one of the other students sitting in class,” he said of the videotapes mailed to him each week. “I liked the convenience of being able to watch the tapes at my leisure—and being able to rewind and watch over if necessary.”

But on the flip side, Hultenius said going the distance to get his degree was more challenging than some might give it credit.

“I don’t think it’s at all easier,” he said. “In fact, I think it’s probably a little more difficult because I didn’t have the luxury of badgering my instructors for help, (and) I didn’t have the luxury of having classmates who I could learn with and get help from.”

In defense of the quality of distance-learning courses—and as a note to faculty who question their value—Chen explains that the videotaped courses are simply recordings of class lectures that would happen regardless of distance learning.

“We’re not doing a separate set of courses,” he said. “The same standards have to be met, the same assignments have to be done.”

And to faculty cynics and skeptics, Chen raises what may seem an unsettling—but nonetheless honest—point.

“One of the things I tell my colleagues who have been reluctant to teach distance-learning courses, is (that) even some of the students we call local are operating as if they’re at a distance—they don’t show up for class, they’re relying on picking up handouts and notes from people, and dumping material from course Web pages,” he said. “So, what’s the difference?”

Further, he said, some graduate students end up finishing their degree at a distance anyway. In high demand by employers, many leave before completing their final master’s project.

“I think all things considered, it would be better to be on campus, real-time interactive in the classroom with a faculty member,” Chen said. “That is the best of all possible worlds, and I would not advocate that distance learning is in every way equal to that.

“But for people who don’t have the luxury of quitting their jobs (and) going back to school full time, I think it’s a decent second-best,” he added.

Hultenius, who never once set foot on the UB campus, isn’t complaining.

“I think I received the same education as anybody else who attended in person,” he said. The absence of classmates with whom he could confer on class matters was sometimes frustrating, he added, “(but) I don’t think it detracted from the quality of the education.”

Chen said EngiNet isn’t operating—and shouldn’t be viewed—as a money-making enterprise, but rather as a function of the university’s public-service mission.

“Some of the ways a state university system promotes itself is by providing access to higher education. What we’re doing is expanding access,” he said, adding that he would be surprised if, after the instructors are paid an additional stipend, and technical support and staff are paid, there’s much of a profit.

“If (administrators) think this is a way to make more money for the university, I would tell them they’re dreaming,” he said.

The proof, Chen said, is in the degree. Hultenius’ graduation from the program is “a real feather in our cap,” he said, realizing fully the distance-learning program’s potential.

“There are still faculty who object to the notion of students earning a master’s degree entirely from a distance,” he said. “And to those faculty, I would say, ‘Don’t tell me it can’t be done. Here’s a guy who already did it.’”

For more information on the EngiNet program, contact Marge Hewlett, corporate relations administrator, at mhewlett@eng.buffalo.edu or visit the EngiNet Web site at http://www.eng.buffalo/EngiNet.