A Case Study Of Using The Web To Teach Civil Engineering Ethics, Professionalism And History

This paper shares the experience of the author in developing and using the World Wide Web as a teaching-learning aid in a three-credit hour, required junior level course in civil engineering that covers the topics of engineering economics, ethics, professionalism, case studies, and civil engineering history. The course is taught in one large section with 70 to 100 students. The author has taught the course over nine years, but use of the Web to assist in teaching the course was begun in the mid-1990’s. In 1998, the course was migrated to WebCT, a very popular and powerful commercial course management software that limits access to those officially associated with the course. All course “lectures” were given live by the instructor or guest lecturers, but made use of the Web in real time in the classroom to access relevant materials. The instructor used collaborative learning procedures for both in-class and out-of-class exercises. Students submitted homeworks electronically through the Web site. Grading consisted of attaching grades and electronic notes to the files similar to grading notes applied to assignments submitted on paper. The graded assignments were returned to the students through the Web site thus giving both the instructor and the student graded copies of the assignments. Even the final exam was given electronically and it was partially graded automatically (multiple choice, matching, simple answer questions) by WebCT. The instructor and teaching assistant graded the essay questions. The software allows the student to see his/her grades on all assignments, exams, and other categories at any time from anywhere there is access to the Web. Likewise the instructor has access to the course web site from anywhere he/she has access to the web. Overall, the process took more time to set up, but allows for very effective access to information, some of which is exceptionally instructive. Students like to use the technology, but don’t use it as effectively as they could. The author, while still having much to learn about effective use of this technology, will continue to use it in all his courses in the future.