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Session 2520

A Paced Web-Taught Course in Numerical Methods in Engineering

William S. Duff, Devin Shunk Department of Mechanical Engineering Colorado State University

I. Introduction

In fall semester 2000 we instituted a paced Internet taught sophomore level numerical methods course for engineers. This WebCT1 based course is taught completely on the Internet.

The course is taught to an average of 60 students each semester. A number of prospective transfer students are located at several two-year feeder institutions that are over three hours drive from the Colorado State University main campus. The University administration wanted to find a way to include such students in this and other basic freshman and sophomore level engineering courses given at the main institution. This provided the impetus and financial support for the development of the Internet version of this course.

It took more than a year to develop the Internet delivery for this course. However, the primary effort to develop the actual Internet material took place in the summer of 2000 and while the course was being taught the during fall semester 2000.

During the prior fall and spring semesters, while this course was being taught in a traditional manner, we began to prepare for its eventual conversion to an Internet course. Much of the structure of the course, as it was to be taught in the Internet version, such as the projects, quizzes, homework and exams, were established a year ahead and their essential characteristics were carried into the Internet version. As a result, a number of specific comparisons may be credibly made between the traditionally taught course and the Internet taught course. This paper presents these comparative analyses and the related statistics for student performance.

Some of the features of this course that were made practical by its Internet structure include

• both quizzes and homework designed so that they can be taken on the Internet, automatically graded and feedback provided immediately to the student • a number of animated explanations (The animations themselves will be shown during the presentation of the paper at the conference.) • student group prepared projects focusing on applications of the numerical techniques presented via the Internet to the rest of the students.

Proceedings of the 2001 American Society for Engineering Education annual Conference & Exposition Copyright ©2001, American Society for Engineering Education

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Shunk, D., & Duff, W. (2001, June), A Paced Web Taught Course In Numerical Methods In Engineering Paper presented at 2001 Annual Conference, Albuquerque, New Mexico. 10.18260/1-2--9639