Multi-media global human factors distance education

In the fall semester of 2009, we had the unique opportunity to develop and teach a human factors course presented to students simultaneously at Penn State University (PSU) in the USA and Seoul National University (SNU) in South Korea. This was partially in response to both department strategic plans for a greater focus on global engineering and to increasing numbers of graduating students working for multinational companies. This paper presents some of the logistical and multicultural issues that arose with the first offering of the course and some insights for those universities and faculty members who may be attempting to prepare similar courses in the future. Pre- and post-course surveys showed that intercultural awareness levels increased over the duration of the course, especially for PSU students. Intercultural anxiety was relatively high for both groups of students at the start of course, but decreased over the duration of the course, for SNU students. In terms of on-line communication channels, e-mail and Skype were preferred over Wiggio. In the future, we will also rely more on Skype. Also, the course at PSU was first tested for graduate students. To increase international collaboration, especially for native-born American students, the course was later opened to undergraduate students. The course is now offered for the third time.