Trends
A variety of technologies are currently being used by faculty within the college to enhance course offerings. Applications range from computational tools, simulation software, electronic video or web streaming recorded lecture, and other course authoring tools to synchronize presentation materials with audio and video including:
- Articulate, course authoring
- Elluminate, course authoring
- Camtasia, screen video capture
- eTeach, simultaneous video lecture and slides
- Mediasite, simultaneous video lecture and slides
In addition, web-based and other e-learning resources are being incorporated into instruction to enhance teaching and learning activities:
- MyWebSpace, UW-Madison application for file sharing and website hosting
- YouTube, video sharing
- Facebook, social computing
- MySpace, social computing
- Microsoft Live Meeting, online meetings
- Wikis, collaborative authoring
- Blogs, authoring and discussion
Other instructional technologies being used by faculty include:
- Clickers, handheld devices for student feedback
- Podcasts, audio and digital lectures distributed over the web
- Videoconferencing and teleconferencing
- Specialized engineering and CAD software
- Simulation tools
Engineering Courses on the Web, or eCOW, was launched over ten years ago to give engineering instructors a fast way to create a class website. Features included file sharing, discussion forums, student groups, class email, and assignment dropboxes. Currently, the college is converting eCOW to Moodle, an open-source course management system (CMS).
Learn@UW, a University of Wisconsin-System course management system based upon the Desire2Learn CMS is also available to faculty to support courses that are face-to-face, blended or online.
The enhancement of eCOW2 will support the use of a variety of instructional and assessment strategies to support the use of sound pedagogical practices and tools to interact, collaborate and engage within a robust research and learning community. Furthermore, eCOW2 will support electronic assessment of student engagement and learning relative to the college's desired educational goals and program outcomes for engineering students.
