Collection

1998 Annual Conference

Authors

Carolyn L. Dull; A. George Havener

are given learning objectives,a tasking (to develop a plan for a manned research mission to Mars)1, and access to aninformation resource containing data and references on engineering, Mars, and problemsolving skills and tools. A series of mini-workshops and the information resource areused to initiate the problem solving skills-development. Initially, the informationresource was a collection of computer folders. Before long, however, the accumulation ofinformation in the folders made them hard to use, and during computer downtimes, theywere inaccessible.To improve the utility of the information resource, a web-page has been created. TheHomepage is shown in Fig. 1. Designed as a network of concept maps containinghyperlinks to information

Collection

1998 Annual Conference

Authors

Alex Kirlik; Jennifer Turns

having, at hand, assessment instruments that can support the instructor with his/her goals and can be easily adapted to his/her situation. Ongoing debates explore the relative merits of standard testing procedures, authentic performance based assessments, and alternative assessments such as the use of concepts maps.• Designing and Executing the Assessment: Designing and executing an assessment, even when the basic goals and methods have been identified, is typically very time consuming. Anyone who has Page 3.513.1 ever made up a set of test questions and then graded students responses is aware of this phenomenon. Given

Collection

1998 Annual Conference

Authors

Michael Prissovsky; Edwin R. Carney; David B. Oglesby; Dave Crites

are implemented at this time. The project, in its current form, can beviewed at www.umr.edu/~oci. Concept Maps - material overview with forward and back links in the curriculum Conceptual Mini-Lectures - sequence of short audio/graphic lectures with back links Conceptual Self Tests - T/F and MC questions to test understanding Interactive Example Problems - students play “what if” by changing problemparameters Homework Problems - randomized, automatic submission, grading with instantfeedback Electronic Bulletin Board - instructor/students asynchronous communicationSome additional features are planned for the future. These include the following. Whiteboard & Chat Facility - synchronous

Collection

1998 Annual Conference

Authors

Swami Karunamoorthy; K. Ravindra

exposure to brain storming and mind (or concept)mapping skills. The conventional Fortran programming course in the old curriculum replaced bya Computer science course with C language. The conventional Calculus courses have beenmodified with applications of Math-Cad computer software. The writing course on Englishincludes the application of a word-processing software. In the sophomore year, the communication skill is introduced by a course on GroupPresentation with the application of Power Point software. Creative design (open-ended)problems are introduced in the Statics course in an innovative way. The design philosophy ofsynthesis and analysis are introduced in the course on Foundation to Engineering Design. Thedesign problem sponsored by