STUDENT ENGINEERING PROBLEM AND SOLUTIONS DATABASE FOR USE IN COMPUTER ASSISTED LEARNING (CAL) SYSTEMS

THE AVAILABILITY OF HYPERTEXT AND MULTIMEDIA TECHNOLOGIES PRESENTS AN OPPORTUNITY TO ASSIMILATE VAST ENGINEERING PROBLEM AND SOLUTION RESOURCES INTO ONE READILY ACCESSIBLE KNOWLEDGE BASE, IN A WAY THAT MAKES THE ENGINEERING PROBLEMS AND SOLUTIONS "COME ALIVE". RESEARCHERS ARE DEVELOPING: (1) A SET OF DATABASES OF APPLIED MECHANICS PROBLEMS, THEIR SOLUTIONS, AND RELATED ATTRIBUTES; (2) A DESIGN FOR A USER INTERFACE WHICH EXPLOITS THE "SPECIAL ATTRIBUTES" OF THE DATABASES; AND (3) SPECIFICATIONS FOR USING THE DATABASES IN A CLIENT OR SERVER MODE. THE RESEARCH EXAMINES THE FEASIBILITY OF USING A DATABASE OF PROBLEMS AND SOLUTIONS WITH SPECIAL ATTRIBUTES AND CLASSIFICATIONS TO MAKE A HIGHLY REUSABLE COMPUTER-ASSISTED LEARNING MODULE THAT IS EFFICIENT AND APPEALING TO STUDENTS. THE RESULTS OF THE RESEARCH MAY BE EXTENDED TO FUTURE DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT OF CAL SYSTEMS IN OTHER ENGINEERING DISCIPLINES. FULLY DEVELOPED DATABASES READILY PRODUCE ACCESSIBLE SOURCES OF VARIABLE PROBLEM-SOLUTION SETS AND SOLUTION METHODOLOGIES. THE DESIGN OF THE DATABASES AND USER INTERFACE MODULE OFFER ADVANTAGES OF MODULARITY AND A WAY OF DEVELOPING CAL SYSTEMS THAT REDUCES THE DEVELOPMENT TIME, AND INCREASES THE SCOPE AND APPEAL BY ENABLING THE INTEGRATION OF HYPERTEXT AND MULTIMEDIA TECHNOLOGIES.