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Session 2247

Using the World Wide Web to Support Teaching in Manufacturing Engineering Technology

Henry W. Kraebber Purdue University, Mechanical Engineering Technology

Abstract: The Internet is a modern wonder of the computer age. The number of people using the Internet is doubling every few months. The growth is remarkable, unlike anything seen before in the computer age. It has tremendous power to provide students with a wealth of information and communications opportunities. The question for engineering educators seems to be one of how to harness the power of the Internet, not whether it should be used or not.

This paper presents the story of how the Internet has been used to support a series of courses in the Computer Integrated Manufacturing Technology program at Purdue University. It is a story of the implementation of the basics. The work involved is not complicated and does not involve an extraordinary commitment of faculty time. The use of the Internet and the World Wide Web can become somewhat obsessive. It is an exciting and fun technology that has unlimited possibilities where actions on one page can easily lead to the creation or revision of several others. This paper presents a simple "no frills" approach to using the Internet to enhance teaching. Emphasis is placed on the use of electronic mail and the use of course pages on the World Wide Web.

The students in the School of Technology have a fairly high level of computer literacy. Most of the students have access to a computer where they live as well as during class and lab time on campus. Computers in most of the campus computer labs allow students to make a direct connection to the Internet. Students in the residence hall system at Purdue have the ability to make a direct connection to the campus backbone of the Purdue University Computing Center. The majority of students in the CIMT program are users of e-mail and the World Wide Web. Within the first 14 days of the start of the fall semester nearly 75 % of the students in an introductory course on CIM Technology had e-mail addresses. 90% of the students in an upper division undergraduate course reported that they use e-mail regularly.

The use of electronic mail as a tool in CIMT classes is increasing. The primary uses of e-mail in CIMT classes include the following: • "One-on-one" communication between the instructor and a student. • Sending information and assignments to an entire class through an instructor maintained distribution list. • Submission of completed assignments to the instructor's account.

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Kraebber, H. W. (1998, June), Using The World Wide Web To Support Teaching In Manufacturing Engineering Technology Paper presented at 1998 Annual Conference, Seattle, Washington. 10.18260/1-2--7515