Enhancing Quality of Learning by Interactive Integration of
Engineering Experimentation and Computation
NSF-CCLI-EMD Web Supplementary Material Guide
Go to: Proposal Summary

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by M. Kostic
kostic@ceet.niu.edu

This guide with the interactive links is posted on the Web together with all supplementary materials <www.kostic.niu.edu> or <http://www.ceet.niu.edu/faculty/kostic/NSF-CCLI-EMD.html > and may be viewed on the WWW with MS Internet Explorer and Adobe Acrobat Reader. In addition MathCAD is needed to exploit the what-if-interactive-analysis. A sample of lecture presentation is provided in MS PowerPoint format with interactive Web and other links. The handouts of the lectures are posted on the Web in HTML or PDF format for a review without need for additional application software, however most of the interactivity will be missing, so students are motivated to attend lectures to hear verbal explanations of multimedia lectures and be actively involved in discussion.

Required Hardware and Software:

MS Internet Explorer 4.0 or later, and Adobe Acrobat Reader 3.0 or later are mandatory with a Windows95/98 Personal Computer (PC) connected to Internet and capable of running the listed software. Recommended are MathCAD 8 or later, or free MathCAD Explorer (www.mathsoft.com), MS PowerPoint97 or its free Viewer, and LabVIEW (ver. 5 or later) may be used, but is not critical for review of this supplementary material. If a PC has usual configuration and fast Internet connection, simple clicking on the interactive links on this page should provide for a quick review/demonstration of the enclosed supplementary materials (30 minuts or less). Or if the Internet connection is slow the material may be downloaded on a local hard drive and viewed later.

First Thing, First ...

These supplementary materials, developed as learning aids to enhance the PI's passed and current course delivery, are limited examples of how Information or New Technology (IT or NT) may be utilized to enrich the students' motivation and experience in order to help better understand the physical phenomena through lab measurements, effective interactive simulation, what-if analysis, multimedia, and useful industrial Web links.

These materials are not a prototype for this NSF-CCLI proposal (not fully developed yet), but rather an illustration of what the PI has been doing out of his belief and enthusiasm with very limited recourses. The proposed CCLI learning materials, if the proposal is funded, will be developed in the spirit of the proposal with emphasis on quality, pedagogy, and what-if-interactivity; to first motivate and challenge students intellectually to fully understand phenomena, and then to use NT as effective engineering tools. The fundamental philosophy is described in the proposal, but the specifics are purposely curtailed since they are to be creatively developed within the available resources and time period of the grant.

Supplementary Materials:

  1. Engineering work is unavoidably involved with experimental data measurement (acquisition). Along with "physical signals" we inevitably measure "noise," usually of high frequency and low magnitude. It is or could be filtered during the measurements, or later using "moving averaging," Fourier transform, etc., see:
  1. Basic fundamentals and Web links for Computerized Data Acquisition are presented along with effective illustration of problems with data sampling and aliasing ("what instrument see is not what it is!"), see:
  1. Integrating theory and experimentation is natural and the best way to witness and grasp the inside of a physical phenomena. The following examples confirm by measurements in lab the theoretical predictions of a simple cantilever beam vibrations and Bernoulli correlation, along with the useful Web links to industrial resources, as well as one home-made apparatus for motor-flywheel characteristics measurements:
  1. A sample lecture about Statistics and Data Uncertainty is given with appropriate links to other resources. The actual verbal explanations and class interactions are missing (so students have to come to the class and may ask any question they may have). However the main point of using multimedia is obvious: making points by using effective graphics, colors, animation, interactive-what-if analysis, etc.
  1. A number of other handouts, presentations, and publications are posted on my Web site:

But Make No Mistake...

New technology (NT) is not and can not replace traditional values, but rather to enhance and complement them. The NT is not to be an excuse, but a useful and convenient tool. It should help, not hurt us, i.e. to be our "Slave," not our "Master." I tell my students: if email does not do it, stop by in my office. If a software does not plot it to your need or liking, add with your free hand - never submit to me printout without proofreading and hand corrections, if needed. The technology should not control us, but the other way around. The question is not whether TO USE NT or not, but HOW? Also see:

"Be aware of complexity, but make it simple!"
"In the world of technology (often GIGO), we the people (with creativity and judgement) make the difference!"

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