Paper Authors

Abstract

NOTE: The first page of text has been automatically extracted and included below in lieu of an abstract

Session: 2793

A ONE CREDIT HOUR WEB-BASED STATICS COURSE

Muniram Budhu

Department of Civil Engineering & Engineering Mechanics. University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721

Abstract

In this paper, a web-based one-credit hour course in Statics is described. The intention of the course is to help solve the problem of a shrinking engineering curriculum yet providing a rich course content for the student to get the desired knowledge. The goal is to use visual media materials that include interactive animation to enhance retention of fundamental concepts in Statics and their use in problem solving. The development and arrangement of topics to provide opportunities for students to learn course materials to be successful in the Fundamentals of Engineering (FE) examination are described. Students follow a flow chart that consists of review materials in geometry, algebra, trigonometry, vectors, calculus and physics, a pretest, and various components of the Statics course material culminating in an FE type examination. The bulk of the course material consists of interactive animations of the various concepts in Statics. The course material is divided into components and the students must pass each component before taking the FE type examination.

Introduction

There is a growing demand on engineering departments to streamline their undergraduate curriculum to reduce credit hours and to include more technical content, personal development and communication skills. In addition several institutions, including the University of Arizona, have new requirements for freshmen. All freshmen must now take a university wide core curriculum in their freshman and sophomore years that include courses not normally included in an engineering curriculum. The consequence is that a number of institutions are now faced with the challenging task of reengineering their undergraduate curriculum. What courses to cut? How should we manipulate the content of a course or courses to increase efficiency and reduce credit hours? What is the likely impact of course cutting measures on professional engineering examinations and performance of students in the work place? These are some of the questions that engineering departments have to answer in conducting renewal of their curriculum.

One of the possible casualties of course cutting and credit hour reduction is engineering mechanics (Statics). Some engineering departments, for example, Electrical Engineering and Systems and Industrial Engineering at the University of Arizona, have dropped Statics as a course requirement for their students. However, if these engineering students want to become registered engineers, they must pass the Fundamental of Engineering (FE) examination, which

• Citation

• Format
  • APA
  • APA - LaTeX bibitem
  • MLA
  • MLA - LaTeX bibitem
  • Bibtex
  • EndNote - RIS

Budhu, M. (2000, June), A One Credit Hour Web Based Course In Statics Paper presented at 2000 Annual Conference, St. Louis, Missouri. 10.18260/1-2--8603