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Session 1668

TEACHING MECHANICS WITH MULTIMEDIA TOOLS

Jiang Li, Matthew Y. Lee

Morgan State University/Amherst College

Abstract

In the present paper, teaching Engineering Mechanics with multimedia tools is emphasized. The web site design for online teaching has been discussed. The combination of the traditional and Internet teaching is featured. Namely, the traditional teaching is combined with the Internet teaching. Two engineering courses are currently being taught with such combination. A comparison for teaching engineering courses with and without the Internet has been conduced. Experimental results from the different teaching approaches applied in the course of Engineering Mechanics show that student’s learning ability has been improved and that students’ study in engineering is more self-motivated and efficient. The Internet teaching not only provides an alternative way to pass knowledge and to enhance students understanding of principles taught in Engineering Mechanics, but also it offers more flexibility and convenience to help students in learning.

I. Introduction

The traditional "chalk and talk" mode has been employed in teaching of engineering courses for many years. For this teaching pattern, an instructor usually shows up two or three times per week to give lectures. The instructor assigns homework regularly and gives quizzes and exams to students in order to enhance student’s understanding of their learning and to obtain important feedback information from students at the same time. During a lecture, students take class notes and ask questions. Such a pattern obviously has some problems. For instance, the one-hour lecture may be too short to solve student’s problems or to answer student’s questions. The availability or accessibility of an instructor after lecture hours is one of important key issues in teaching of engineering courses. Today, with help of high technology of telecommunication, the teaching of engineering courses can be improved greatly with many ways. Teaching engineering courses through the Internet is one of them (1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6).

The Internet is a "web" of high-end servers that allow sharing of information. The Internet has many advantages that educational institutions can use to benefit the students. Using the Internet as multimedia tools to teach engineering courses is a good example. Today, electronic distribution of teaching materials such as Asynchronous Learning Networks is becoming commonplace. More and more learning institutions start to employ this new technology or software such as WebCT to benefit higher education. This paper, however, presents a self-

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Lee, M. Y., & Li, J. (1999, June), Teaching Mechanics With Multimedia Tools Paper presented at 1999 Annual Conference, Charlotte, North Carolina. 10.18260/1-2--7968