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Session 1566

Integration of Instruction on the use of Multimedia Tools into a Mechanical Engineering Curriculum

Madara Ogot

Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey

Abstract

Mechanical engineering curriculums do not offer formal instruction in the use of multimedia tools in the areas of computer illustration, animation, and image manipulation nor the creation and editing of digital video, despite their prevalent use in industry for technical communication – written reports and oral presentations. In addition to knowing how to use these tools, it is important for mechanical engineering students to understand the terminology associated with their use. For example, at the beginning of the class, most of our mechanical engineering students did not know the difference between a .jpeg or a .gif graphical file, or an .mpeg or a .ram video file. Others could not associate .jpeg or .mpeg with either file type. This paper presents our experience with incorporating formal instruction in the use of multimedia tools into a reverse engineering course. The main aim of the multimedia initiative was for the students to not only learn how to use the tools, but for them to actually use them in other academic activities beyond the reverse engineering class. Evaluations performed indicate that the majority of students did use the tools (especially illustration and image manipulation) in other classes.

1.0 Introduction

A typical mechanical engineering curriculum does not offer formal instruction in the use of multimedia tools in the areas of computer illustration, animation, and image manipulation, nor the creation and editing of digital video. Yet these technologies are playing an increasing role in industry, especially for technical communication. Using visual content to effectively communicate complex engineering processes or the results from physical and numerical experiments can take on the form of illustrations and images in written documents or embedded (or standalone) video and animations in oral presentations. In the late seventies to early eighties mechanical engineering students hand-wrote their reports and then employed the services of a typist to generate the final document. Hand-drawn illustrations and photographs, where required, were glued into the final

Proceedings of the 2003 American Society of Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition Copyright © 2003, American Society of Engineering Education

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Ogot, M. (2003, June), Integration Of Instruction On The Use Of Multimedia Tools Into The Mechanical Engineering Curriculum Paper presented at 2003 Annual Conference, Nashville, Tennessee. 10.18260/1-2--12065