Applications Of Coldfusion To Interactive Teaching In Engineering Courses

The present paper is written to demonstrate applications developed with CFML (ColdFusion Markup Language) for online interactive teaching in engineering courses through the World Wide Web. How to design such online interactivity with CFML for teaching engineering courses utilizing a web site is discussed. The interactive components including online assignments such as online homework, tests, quizzes, projects, etc. are designed for both faculty and engineering students who are teaching or taking engineering courses. The applications discussed in the present paper are very versatile and can be used for a variety of engineering courses offered by the department of civil engineering, such as Engineering Mechanics, Soil Mechanics, Material Mechanics, Continuum Mechanics, etc. The following points in the paper are emphasized: 1) design of the flow chart and site map for a website, 2) design of layout for each web page including main and sub-pages using HTML, 3) design of small relational database for use with the ColdFusion applications and 4) design of interactive functions using CFML that can link a user friendly web interface to the database described in the previous point. In brief, this is an attempt to develop interactive applications using CFML pages in conjunction with HTML on the Internet or the Intranet with participation from both teachers and students. The online interactive teaching or learning provides an alternative way to pass knowledge and to enhance students’ understanding of principles taught in engineering mechanics. Such applications also offer useful and innovative tools with flexibility and convenience to engineering faculty and students.