The University of South Carolina has offered distance education classes for some time. APOGEE is a program for engineers in the workplace who want to continue their education and pursue a Master's degree in engineering. Previously, USC offered a program known as VUEE: Video Undergraduate Engineering Education, for students at branch campuses. However, this program presented somewhat of a problem: professors had to teach class in front of a camera, and old videotapes were inflexible and outdated. If any changes needed to be made, the professors had to make an entirely new tape.

Steve McNeill of the University of South Carolina has developed an approach for using the World Wide Web for delivery of a sophomore engineering science course, ENGR 200-Statics. He has been involved with this technology for some time, and wants to expand its uses throughout the college. The approach uses an authoring system known as FLASH that provides a voice annotation along with screen images similar to PowerPoint slides. Macromedia FLASH Animation provides several advantages: it offers more flexibility; may be more easily modified; offers animation capability; and allows practice problems to be included. Changes can be made later in the modules, and students can easily return to screens they have already viewed. Other software employed includes Cool Edit Pro.

The current version of this mode of course delivery has been used for two semesters. The major goal in the program is to improve the quality of distance education for USC's students. They can view the modules on the Internet from anywhere on campus, or from home. The class is easily accessible from the Web, guiding students through each segment of the page. After configuring computer speed, students are ready to begin. Classes are listed by date, and students need only select a particular class in order to view it. Each module operates very much like the controls for a VCR, with such options as "play" and "pause," making the Web course user-friendly.

Most of the students have been "distance education" students, but during the Spring 1999 semester, several on-campus students have used the Web material rather than attend classes. Both groups seem to do as well or better on the exams as the regular (classroom) group. In addition to comparing the performance of students receiving the course through the normal classroom approach and the students receiving the course through delivery from the Web and using the normal course survey, they plan to survey the students involved to determine their view on this mode for course delivery. Engineering 200 is but one of the courses students transferring to the engineering programs at USC need to achieve upper division status and to graduate in two more years.

The success Dr. McNeill has been able to show with this mode of course delivery makes him enthusiastic about the approach. During the summer of 1999, Drs. Francis Gadala-Maria and Charles Brice have assisted Dr. McNeill in preparing three sophomore courses to be offered on the Web, using the same protocol used for ENGR 200. These courses, ENGR 210, Dynamics, ENGR 360, Fluid Mechanics, and EECE 221, Circuits I are needed by most students. The effort of each faculty member will be augmented by a student, who will assist with the necessary computer programming. The student assistant will increase the productivity of the faculty members and should make it possible to use this mode for developing this approach to course delivery more widely. McNeill, Gadala-Maria, and Brice plan to teach these courses using the Web materials along with a regular classroom group during the Spring 2000 semester. The classes will be conducted as any other class would: they will take place two or three days a week, and can be accessed from anywhere on campus. The program is still in its experimental stages, but the professors want to make it a permanent option within the curriculum.

Professor McNeill's course, ENGR 200, may be seen on the Web at http://www.engr.sc.edu/classes/mcneill/engr200/

For further information, contact:

Dr. Steve McNeill

College of Engineering and Information Technology
University of South Carolina
A133 South Main Building
Columbia, SC 29208
PHONE: (803) 777-3407
FAX: (803) 777-0106
Email: [email protected]

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