Delivery And Assessment Of Teaching Statics Over The Internet To Community College Students

This paper presents the methods and results of deli vering a basic Statics course to Pellissippi State Technical Community College (PSTCC) students located in Knoxville, Tennessee over the Internet. All aspects of the course, including text book, lectures, class meetings, student discussions, homework and tests were conducted through the Internet. The online course material included animations, simulations, narrations, and g raphics. Homework and tests were also conducted over the Internet. For comparison purpose s, a traditional Statics class was conducted by the same instructors (the authors) at PSTCC usin g traditional delivery methods with oncampus lectures and office hours. The two classes c overed the same material at the same rate, and students took the same multiple choice tests an d final exam. Both classes had access to identical course content on the Internet as well as a standard print textbook. Comparison of the test results of the two classes shows that the onli ne delivery of basic engineering content through the Internet provides as good, if not better, educa tion than traditional delivery methods. In summary, the online class students performed better on the exams by over a half-grade level.