The surveying profession has been changing at a record pace during the
past 20 years. Changes in methods of data collection and instrumentation
plus the addition of new technologies such as field-to-finish software,
the global positioning system (GPS), and geographic/land information systems
have caused many professionals to seek further education. Some states have
gone as far to require continuing education for maintenance of licensure.
The advantages of getting a college degree from a university are many fold.
A university education not only provides technical courses in a specific
subject-area, but also the support courses in the areas of written and
oral communications, mathematics, statistics, science, graphics, and liberal
arts which are necessary to truly understand and comprehend the technical
subject matter. Course content is not just the mechanics of an operation,
but also the why and when an operation should be done. This form of education
results in an individual with a better conceptual understanding of the
problems they encounter. Furthermore, the education you receive from a
university will adapt to the new technologies that will be developed in
the future.
Most professionals are location bound by their family and job. In addition,
there are only a handful of universities in the United States that offer
baccalaureate degrees in surveying. Thus education is generally obtained
in a sporadic fashion through workshops. Due to their short time frame, however,
workshops tend to provide a limited amount of information and often
workshop participants feel over-whelmed due to a lack of preparatory information.
Now the Web can provide the bulk of your education right in the comfort
of your home!
A course offered on the Web is similar to a correspondence course. You
will learn at your own pace and repeat material as often as is required
to better understand the concepts. However, unlike a correspondence course,
you will have regular communication with the faculty member and your fellow
classmates through the electronic media. Instead of waiting weeks for an
assignment to be graded, an assignment can be completed, sent, graded,
and returned to the student in a day. Furthermore the class can meet regularly
in electronic chat rooms with the instructor to have the same discussions
that would occur in a traditional classroom. Furthermore students in the
class can also informally meet for chat sessions outside of the class sessions.
This electronic system will allow the instructor to monitor the pace at
which the students are working, discover the areas that are causing the
students the most problems, and develop electronic lessons which will help
the students overcome these difficulties. Time frames can be developed
for the class that will force even the biggest procrastinators to keep
up with their studies. Quizzes and exams will be given through the Web
and returned in a like fashion.
Who should take this course? Any person who is committed to bettering their
educational background. Any person who thinks if only the university was
closer, I would take this class.
Web courses are dependent on the student being self-motivated to better
their education. This educational medium closely parallels correspondence
courses. However this medium will never replace face-to-face contact with
an instructor in a classroom environment. Thus only those people who are
location-bound by job and family should consider these classes. A true
university education involves daily contact with peers and instructors
which can not be duplicated on the Web. These courses are not for recent
high school graduates who lack experience in the field and are capable
of attending a university in person.
Another disadvantage of this medium is that the Surveying Engineering Program can only
put Surveying courses on the Web. Thus students will have to take other
subject area courses at their local Penn State campus or find equivalent
courses at their local colleges or universities. Since our courses require
course sequencing, the student may find that they cannot take the next
surveying course until they have completed some other subject-area course.
Furthermore the Penn State Surveying Engineering Program is just beginning to develop these course. Thus the entire curriculum will take years to develop for the electronic classroom for every surveying course in the curriculum. Even when the courses are developed, the Penn State Surveying Engineering Program is planning on offering, at most one or two courses a semester. With this in mind, it is expected that the students in these courses will be location-bound adults, you will naturally take longer to proceed through the curriculum due to work constraints.
Thus this traditional students, (that is, those who can attend school
full time will find the offerings slow and far between. This extra time,
may cost more in lost-earnings than a commitment to full time residency
in a surveying engineering program. It is recommended that these students attend the
school of the choice to receive their education. Hopefully, you will consider
Penn State. However for those who are location-bound, these courses will
finally provide a university education in your own home.
To take a course on the Web, the student must have a computer with a
graphical interface operating system capable of accessing the WEB. This
computer must also have access to the Web via either a direct-connection
or through some service. Since the student will be required to download
and upload large files at times, the fastest modem available is desirable.
Furthermore the student must have the proper software and hardware to participate in
the class.
Many of today's computers have these capabilities. Ask your local computer
store for computers that will allow access to the Web.
From time-to-time, an exam must be taken under direct supervision of some responsible person. You may ask any of the following people for assistance in this matter.
The Penn State Surveying Engineering Program is just beginning to develop these
courses. With time the program hopes to have its entire curriculum on the
Web. However time, physical and economical constraints may
interfere with this happening in a timely-fashion. Please be patient with
our efforts.
Recognizing that many employers will reward employees who show progress
towards a degree, we are currently exploring the concept of a certificate
program. While in its infancy, our current thoughts are to provide a Certificate
of Achievement when the student completes the first year of study in
either the associate or baccalaureate degree programs through internet
courses, and after the second and third years of study in the baccalaureate
program. Comments on this concept should be sent to Dr.
Charles Ghilani.
Beginning in the Fall of 1998, we will be offering a statistics, least squares adjustment, geodesy, GPS course sequence.
This sequence will require that the student to have college-level calculus, matrices,
computer programming (C programming), and statistics as prerequisites. The technical
courses to be offered will be:
To enroll in a class, you must first become a student of Penn State. Information on this process is provided below, and by our admission's office. After accepting admission to Penn State, you must then contact Dr. Charles Ghilani to receive advising on this exciting new curriculum.
You can use a simpler nondegree form that is sent directly to the Penn State Wilkes-Barre Campus by selecting the link http://surveying.wb.psu.edu/psu-surv/nondegree.htm. You can send the completed form to the address:
These courses will be offered over the Internet. The sequence may change due to demand, and/or resources. If you wish to take these courses, you should apply with "Nondegree Status" using an application for Penn State, and register for these courses at the Wilkes-Barre Campus. Out-of-state applicants must pay out-of-state tuition fees. All students are subject to Computer and Student Activity Fees.
Information on the admissions, fees, and programs in Penn State can be found in the Bursar's Office. A schedule of courses offered at the Wilkes-Barre Campus may be found under the Academic Programs page. Procedures for registration into courses can be found on the Registrar's web site The University currently uses a phone registration system. However, nondegree students can only register after a specific date listed on this site. For more information you can contact:
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Engineering Program Main Page.
Contacting the Web Master.