Enhancing Freshman Engineering Mathematics Courses With Web Based Material

The internet provides access to a wide-variety of valuable resources which can be used to enhance college-level courses. In addition, it provides many new opportunities for connecting with and supporting students. One convenient way to organize and access these resources and opportunities is through the use of web-based course management software. This paper will outline the experiences of mathematics faculty at Louisiana Tech University who have used course-based web sites for the freshman integrated engineering mathematics sequence. The College of Engineering and Science at Louisiana Tech has replaced the traditional curriculum for freshman and sophomores engineering majors with an integrated curriculum which incorporates mathematics, engineering and science. Using web-based course management software, the authors have developed and used course-specific web sites for students enrolled in the integrated freshman mathematics sequence . These sites contain content on both required assignments and optional supporting material. Assignments range from traditional problem sets to exercises requiring and / or utilizing specific web sites. Supporting material includes items such as syllabi, review sheets, course documents and links to text-specific web-based tutorial material. The instructors also made use of optional communication tools, such as e-mail and the virtual classroom. Tracking was used to collect data on student use, and students were surveyed at the end of each term to assess the strengths and weaknesses of the sites, interest in options not utilized in the course, ease of access to the site, etc. Improvements were then made to the sites, incorporating the student feedback and instructor experiences. Based on the feedback from this and other similar projects, plans are to seek funding to expand and implement a web-based system for use in integrated curriculum courses.