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Session 3353

Self-Paced Instruction to Introduce Traffic Engineering in Virtual City (Sooner City)

Qiuli Sun, Kurt Gramoll, Michael Mooney University of Oklahoma

Abstract

This paper presents the results of one portion of a larger program conducted at the University of Oklahoma to introduce students to engineering and design through the use of a virtual city called ‘Sooner City’. This particular module is used to introduce the students to traffic engineering through an easily-understood, internet-based learning environment. Since most freshman engineering students have little knowledge about engineering, it is helpful for them to learn through the use of interactivity and visualization. Also, because the module is web-based, the students were able to interactively control their learning pace. Through this approach, the students were required to design practical engineering cases and then visualize the design in a virtual world. The definitions for the level of service of traffic engineering were also presented through the use of text, pictures, sounds, simulations, animations and video in an integrated, web-based learning environment. Through the web, the students were able to set the basic design variables of the freeway section in the virtual world of Sooner City. The design variables included the traffic flow rate, the number of lanes, the length of the acceleration lane, and the on-ramp configuration. To help better understand the effectiveness of the learning environment, a survey was administered to all students using the module. The results of this survey are presented in the paper.

Introduction

The World Wide Web Initially, the Internet was designed for just text-based data transfer and applications, such as telnet, ftp and e-mail, which were used to exchange information and data. With the development of the World Wide Web (WWW), or just web, the functionality of Internet was greatly expanded due to its easy-to-use graphical interface. This helped generate a large interest in posting information on the Internet that anyone could access. In particular, higher-education institutions are leading the push in adopting the web as a new tool for education because of the ease of use, quick access, and the low cost of access. Some universities, such as University of Oklahoma require freshman engineering students to own an individual laptop for use in the classroom. To help with the network,

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Sun, Q., & Mooney, M. A., & Gramoll, K. C. (1999, June), Self Paced Instruction To Introduce Traffic Engineering In A Virtual City (Sooner City) Paper presented at 1999 Annual Conference, Charlotte, North Carolina. 10.18260/1-2--7936