Teaching dynamics using the WWW: A comparison between the national university of Singapore and the university of Western Australia

Abstract

For several years the University of Western Australia (UWA) has been using computers extensively in the teaching of first year dynamics. Over several years the material grew to finally include notes, animations and tutoring. The latter involved nearly two hundred problems that students completed on a computer. These problems were not multiple choice but required significant calculations. From a knowledge of common misconceptions it was possible to program the computer to give diagnostic feed back to students. All the material was initially Mac based. A final addition was the provision of a forum where students could post questions and staff could respond. The questions and responses were attached to the relevant problem and all students could see them. In 1997 the material was transferred to the WWW environment. It was in early 1997 that the National University of Singapore (NUS) commenced a three year project in the Faculty of Engineering with the object of teaching, tutoring and assessment on the WWW. As NUS and UWA had close contacts it was decided to attempt to transfer the UWA dynamics course to NUS. The students were different in significant ways, the culture was different and the course content was similar but not identical. In Jan and Feb 1998 Stone gave the first half of the NUS course while in Singapore and used the WWW extensively. The second half of the course was given by Lee also using the WWW. During the second half of the course Stone was at UWA teaching the UWA students but also on-line to the NUS students. Student surveys of both UWA and NUS students were taken and examination performance compared. Thus it is possible to compare WWW teaching with conventional teaching and also Singapore students with Australian.