Paper Authors

Abstract

NOTE: The first page of text has been automatically extracted and included below in lieu of an abstract

Session 2547

Teaching Dynamics in a Master Classroom using CourseInfo

B. S. Sridhara

Middle Tennessee State University (MTSU)

I. Introduction Middle Tennessee State University (MTSU) is located in Murfreesboro, about 30 miles southeast of Nashville. MTSU was founded in 1911 and is the fastest growing university in the state of Tennessee. Currently, the student enrollment is approximately 20,000 and we have 800 full-time faculty members. The university has five colleges; Basic and Applied Sciences, Business, Education, Liberal Arts, and Mass Communication. Engineering Technology and Industrial Studies (ETIS) is one of the 10 Departments under the college of Basic and Applied Sciences. We offer Engineering Technology, Industrial Technology, Pre-engineering, and Pre-architecture programs. Our Department has an enrollment of 600 students, of which 200 are majors in Computer, Electro-Mechanical, and Manufacturing Engineering Technology concentrations. Dynamics is a required course for all pre-engineering students and Design Engineering Technology (DET) majors and currently DET is being phased out. Several students from the Aerospace department also take this course to meet their requirement for an ET minor.

Teaching Dynamics in a conventional classroom with blackboard and chalk is a tedious process. It takes a lot of time and effort to draw figures and list given information on the blackboard while lecturing or solving problems. Sridhara teaches Dynamics at Middle Tennessee State University (MTSU) and spends a considerable amount of time in the class to solve problems interactively. In the last two years, we have been fortunate to get several new master classrooms with a computer and the Internet access at each student station. The versatile overhead projector Elmo at the master workstation has not only replaced the conventional unit but also allows projection of opaque and three-dimensional objects on the screen. The need for writing problem statement and drawing figures and diagrams on the blackboard has been completely eliminated with the use of this projector. The VCR and stereo receiver are also useful in showing instructional videotapes. Ability to switch between the master workstation computer, Elmo or VCR instantly is very useful while teaching topics that require multimedia presentation.

II. Web-Enhanced Instruction

Web-based and web-enhanced instruction1,2 has become a very powerful tool and many instructors and students have embraced it. In the spring of 2000, MTSU obtained license from Blackboard.com and developed a site called CourseInfo for web-based and web-enhanced

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

• Citation

• Format
  • APA
  • APA - LaTeX bibitem
  • MLA
  • MLA - LaTeX bibitem
  • Bibtex
  • EndNote - RIS

Sridhara, B. (2003, June), Teaching Dynamics In A Master Classroom Using Courseinfo Paper presented at 2003 Annual Conference, Nashville, Tennessee. 10.18260/1-2--12600