Two entries were named the Premier Courseware of 2010 at the Frontiers in Education Conference: Greenfoot and Dynamics Animations.

Greenfoot Integrated Development Environment (Greenfoot), by Poul Henriksen, Michael Kölling, Davin McCall and Marion Zalk, is a pedagogical tool for teaching computer programming that allows students to use the full Java programming language to create games and simulations. The Greenfoot system greatly enhances student motivation while reinforcing object-oriented programming concepts. Greenfoot is a resource that can be used by instructors to support their teaching of programming concepts through the use of animation and process scenarios. Students instantiate objects into an onscreen world and then create Java code that causes the object, generally a character related to the scenario, to perform certain actions and responses to other objects encountered in the surroundings. The Greenfoot Integrated Development Environment provides facilities for sharing programming resources and usage advice as well as to post finished programming projects that are of general and entertainment interest to student users.

Dynamics Animations, by Richard Stanley, are interactive animation software for an introductory dynamics course. The web-based animation is directly linked to a dynamics assignment, and no programming is required of the user. The software is designed to guide students to expose and explore dynamics concepts—and misconceptions. The software provides considerable choice to the user regarding the depth of exploration. Novice students may vary only the required parameter to answer the question that is being asked. For more experienced students, faculty can ask more complicated questions involving the same scenarios; these advanced scenarios typically require changing additional parameters.

When you have experienced the Premier Courseware of 2010, we invite you to submit your comments. Your comments on Greenfoot and Dynamics Animations are welcome, and we thank you for recognizing the Premier Courseware of 2010 and its contribution to engineering education.

Please visit the Engineering Pathway Premier Award pages for more information.

Submission Deadline:
July 15, 2011, 5 p.m. ET

We welcome your submissions for the 2011 Premier Award. The Premier Award competition is open to a wide range of submissions of "high-quality, non-commercial courseware designed to enhance engineering education."

Please visit Engineering Pathway for more information about the Premier Award and Engineering Education.