Premier Courseware of 1999
On Friday, November 12, 1999, the Premier
Courseware of 1999 were announced at the 1999 Frontiers in Education at an awards ceremony sponsored by
John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Engineering Graphics by Stephen W. Crown. Engineering Graphics is Web-based courseware that can serve as a stand-alone course or as a supplement to a standard textbook for an introduction to engineering graphics class. The website contains Microsoft PowerPoint lectures, CAD tutorials, and interactive multimedia games and quizzes. The Microsoft PowerPoint lectures cover the basic topics in an engineering graphics course and include videos of the author describing particular topics. The CAD tutorials and answers to the homework problems show the student how to perform the actions necessary to achieve the desired result using AutoCad. The interactive games are designed to supplement the material covered in each lecture and associated lab. The courseware elements are of high quality and can be easily modified to meet the organization and structure of other universities and other textbooks. Student surveys agree that Engineering Graphics "supports the course in a way that a textbook could not." Only the Tutorial CD is included as part of the Premier Courseware of 1999 two CD-ROM set.
Cracking Dams by Megann V. Polaha and Anthony R. Ingraffea. Cracking Dams makes engineering principles accessible and exciting to students from K-12 through college. It provides three levels of difficulty targeted at the different audiences, the beginning level is intended to be accessible to kindergarten students while the advanced level is aimed at upper high-school and freshman college students. Pictures of dams, film clips of broached dams and graphics of developing cracks all contribute to a lively presentation of the causes, processes and results of cracking dams. Cracking Dams contains the history and principles of dam design as well as historical examples of famous dam failures. The social, political, environmental and economic pros and cons of dams are tied in through concrete examples and a series of off-site hyperlinks to further information. Simulations help advanced students understand the science behind the forces that crack dams. Cracking Dams is easy to use and has a teacher's guide aimed at integrating "WebQuests" (assignments using the software) into the curriculum.
These instructional courseware packages were chosen through a rigorous application and review process and represent excellence in the use of
computer-based instructional media to enhance engineering education.
The Premier Courseware have distinctive strengths, representing the
breadth of styles, sophistication, pedagogies, and use of multimedia
that should encourage incorporation of courseware in the classroom.
Obtaining Copies of the Premier Courseware of 1999
To obtain a complimentary copy of the Premier Courseware of 1999 on CD,
please click here.
If you'd like more information about the Premier Award or how to become a sponsor, please contact Professor Joe Tront at Virginia Tech via email at jgtront@vt.edu.
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