The Master of Engineering Management (MEM) program is an asynchronous, web-based, fully online program with no residency component. MEM students are engineers who work full-time, and are geographically dispersed. Many of them are located either regionally or nationally, and a few even globally. Naturally, design, administration, and delivery of such a program requires care, both in terms of student interactions with staff as well as course and curriculum issues and interactions.

We have implemented some big and small changes and started a few practices in hopes of improving MEM student interactions and overall quality of their experiences with staff, faculty, and in courses. This session highlights a few of those changes and practices, including:

  • MEM Student Success Center: An information repository and a venue for communication
  • Efficient and effective student advising practices
  • Minor changes to improve rankings
  • Onboarding practices for new adjuncts and faculty
  • Development of course and instructional design template (from multiple sources)
  • Use of Syllabus and Canvas templates for consistency
  • Syllabus and course review
  • Building a platform for networking opportunities and creating a sense of community between MEM graduates and current students

Outcomes for the audience

  1. Improve course design and students’ experience
  2. Implement consistency across the program
  3. Enhance student engagement from a distance
  4. Establish onboarding processes for both faculty and students

Jena Asgarpoor, Ph.D. is a Professor of Practice at the University of Nebraska – Lincoln College of Engineering and the Director for the Master of Engineering Management Program. Dr. Asgarpoor received her Ph.D. and M.S. in Industrial Engineering, specializing in Engineering Management, from Texas A&M University – College Station, where she had previously earned a B.A. in Political Science (Summa Cum Laude). Her interests lie in quality control, engineering management, and customer satisfaction improvement in manufacturing and service industries, as well as teaching, pedagogy, and assessment of student learning outcomes, particularly in the web-based asynchronous online space.
Prior to UNL, she was Professor in Supply Chain Management and Decision Sciences at Bellevue University, Nebraska for 26 years where in 1994 she developed and taught the first asynchronous web-based online course for that institution as part of her teaching portfolio. She is active as an officer for the Council of Engineering Management Academic Leaders (CEMAL) of the American Society for Engineering Management; Secretary for the Engineering Management Division of the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE); and the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Officer for the Engineering Leadership Development Division of ASEE.