Teaching Multimedia Development To Engineering Students Through Web Based Modules

Abstract

Abstract NOTE: The first page of text has been automatically extracted and included below in lieu of an abstract Session 3202 Teaching Multimedia Development to Engineering Students through Web-based Modules Tze-Leong Yew and Kurt Gramoll Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering University of Oklahoma Abstract Multimedia training modules are powerful educational tools that provide students with engaging experiences in the classroom. This paper presents an approach to implement web-based modules for teaching engineering students multimedia development at the University of Oklahoma. In particular, the strategy used to teach the courseware is discussed with a brief review of common problems in conducting such a course. The paper also examines the software tools and hardware that is used to teach the students. A brief overview of the software tools for authoring and editing different media types is presented, along with hardware issues. In summary, student responses and examples of student projects are given. The overall responses were found to be positive with strong approval to the inclusion of student projects. I. Introduction During the past decade, the Internet has grown into a potent medium for disseminating information. The proliferation of the World Wide Web (WWW) in particular, provides a fertile medium for interaction between instructor and student. A case in point is the multimedia course currently taught to engineering students at the University of Oklahoma. The course uses web- based multimedia modules to illustrate concepts, and to teach techniques in creating effective interactive technical presentations. For many years, multimedia has been touted to be the preferred medium in revolutionizing education. However, there is a shortage of software and courseware available for teaching engineering concepts on the World Wide Web. One reason for this is the lack of engineers involved in the development of multimedia. Multimedia is a combination of different elements – text, graphics, animations, simulations and sound. It is used to form an informative and interactive learning environment.