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Session 3557

Engineering Economics on the Web

Jeff Goldberg Department of Systems and Industrial Engineering The University of Arizona

Abstract

In Fall 1996, an NSF workshop on Engineering Economics and Design1 was presented in conjunction with the Salt Lake City FIE Meeting. At that workshop, multimedia instructional material was used and given to the participants. In this paper, we present an outgrowth of that multimedia material - the development of a web site for engineering economics. The site is located at www.sie.arizona.edu/sie265. The site was first designed to supplement a one semester (45 hour) course and was then expanded to enable use as a stand-alone course. Materials included in the site include a set of lecture notes and alternate explanations, homework assignments and solutions, example exams and solutions, class organization, spreadsheet downloads for experimentation, learning tools for special topics, and links to sites with engineering economics data and topics.

During the first semester of use with an accompanying lecture, students extensively evaluated the site and textual materials and the navigation interface were changed to be more effective. The site was used as a stand alone course during the summer 1998 term (5 weeks) and results on student outcomes from a final exam given to three student groups - no web usage, lecture-web usage, and web only usage is included. Usage statistics for various portions of the site from both groups and estimates of time on the system are also included.

I. Introduction and Organization

SIE 265 – Engineering Economics – is a required sophomore level course in systems and industrial engineering. In the summer of 1996, development was started to use web based technology as a primary teaching method for this course. The initial ideas for this material came from two sources. First, the author had a significant experience in the use of Web based teaching while on sabbatical and working in the Systems Engineering Department at the United States Military Academy at West Point. Second, the author learned of the possibilities for using engineering economics as an experimental vehicle at the 1996 NSF Workshop on Integrating Economics in Design, presented before the Salt Lake City FIE Meeting (W. Sullivan et. al. Principal investigators).

In this paper, the course topics and why this material has high potential for a successful web implementation are discussed. Next, the design and evolution of the site are detailed. Three evaluations were developed and are discussed along with results. A final exam and a major case

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Goldberg, J. (1999, June), Engineering Economics On The Web Paper presented at 1999 Annual Conference, Charlotte, North Carolina. 10.18260/1-2--8074