Nathan Collier, Graduate Student, Mechanical Engineering

Glen Besterfield, Associate Professor, Mechanical Engineering

Jim Eison, Director, Center of Teaching Enhancement

University of South Florida, Tampa, FL 33620-5350

Prototype web based resources have been developed at the University of South Florida for an undergraduate course in Numerical Methods (http://numericalmethods.eng.usf.edu).

The web modules are holistic in nature. They provide a contextual background and history of numerical methods, and further motivate students to learn fundamentals through real life applications, presentations, textbook style notes, simulations of methods including convergence and pitfalls, and self-assessment.

The student interest and learning are maximized by providing customization of content based on 28 tracks based on seven engineering majors (Chemical, Civil, Computer, General, Industrial, Electrical and Mechanical Engineering) and four mathematical packages (Maple, Mathcad, Mathematica and Matlab). The motivation for having 28 tracks is based on teaching students what major they are enrolled or interested in, and what mathematical package is available or taught to them.

The resources are offered conveniently through anytime-anywhere web access throughout one's degree program and hence impacting broadly by reaching students and faculty of a Numerical Methods course as well as of engineering courses where numerical methods and mathematical packages are used.

In this project, a prototype has been developed through funding from NSF CCLI-EMD (National Science Foundation - Course, Curriculum and Laboratory Improvement – Educational Materials Development) program. The prototype is limited to nonlinear equations and interpolation, which are two of the eight mathematical procedures generally taught to undergraduates in a Numerical methods course.

The assessment of the project includes surveys taken by students to measure the impact of the web-based resources on reading assignments, class presentations, and problem sets. Also, performance in multiple choice question examinations based on Bloom's taxonomy, with and without the web resources, is measured and compared.

Autar K. Kaw

Professor, Mechanical Engineering Department

University of South Florida

4202 E Fowler Ave ENB118

Tampa FL 33620-5350.

Office: (813) 974-5626

Fax : (813) 974-3539

E-mail: kaw@eng.usf.edu

URL : http://www.eng.usf.edu/~kaw

This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 0126793. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.