ThermoNet: Interactive Internet Resources for Introductory Engineering Thermodynamics

来自工程学院和教育学院的教师将合作制作和评估可通过互联网提供的交互式多媒体学习资源，以指导工程热力学入门。该项目将创建两个相关资源：一个万维网站点和一个Usenet新闻组。使用Web主页，学生将从常见问题(FAQ)列表分支到各种学习模块，每个模块将结合文本和图形来解释热力学中常见的困惑点。该网站还将包括一个指向新闻组的“热链接”。将建立一个由主持人主持的新闻组，热力学学生可以在其中发布问题或评论，并从彼此和讲师那里获得帮助。除了提供热力学问题和问题的“虚拟咨询”的动态资源外，新闻组还将是向项目小组提供即时和持续反馈的宝贵来源，以确定学生在未来学习模块开发中的共同困惑点。该项目将建立在先前NSF赞助的项目中汇编的大量热力学主题的视频、声音、动画和静止图形的档案基础上。新开发的互联网交付工具，如Java和Shock Wave，将被用来提供真正的交互式多媒体能力，这些能力迄今过于繁琐，无法有效地在线交付。

Faculty from the Colleges of Engineering and Education will collaborate to produce and evaluate interactive multimedia learning resources deliverable over the Internet for instruction in introductory engineering thermodynamics. The project will create two related resources: a site on the World Wide Web and a UseNet newsgroup. Using the Web home page, students will branch from a list of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ's) to various learning modules, each of which will combine text and graphics to explain conceptual points that are common points of confusion in thermodynamics. The Web site will also include a "hot link" to the newsgroup. A moderated newsgroup will be established in which thermodynamics students can post questions or comments and obtain help from one another and from instructors. In addition to providing a dynamic resource of "virtual consulting" on thermodynamics questions and problems, the newsgroup will be a valuable source of instantaneous and continuous feedback to the project team in identifying common points of confusion among students for development of future learning modules. The project will build on a large archive of video, sound, animation and still graphics of thermodynamic subject matter which has been compiled in a previous NSF- sponsored project. Newly developed Internet delivery tools such as Java and Shock wave will be used to provide true interactive multimedia capabilities that have hitherto been too cumbersome to effectively deliver on-line.