DEVELOPMENT OF A GRAPHICAL AND INTERACTIVE ELECTRONIC WORKBOOK BASED ON THE HOMEPAGE CONCEPT Jose Guilherme Santos da Silva 1, Nival Nunes de Almeida 2, Ricardo Alves Santiago 3, Heloisa Valle da Silva Santos 4, Alexander Ribeiro Duarte 5 Abstract Based on the significant development of the new technologies associated with engineering (computing, constructive, managerial, etc), the engineers need to adapt to these technologies by reformulating concepts and attitudes. The Universities, as Educational/Research Institutions, have a fundamental role in this process. The present study is included in this context as a contribution to the reformulation and updating of engineering education in the Faculty of Engineering of the State University of Rio de Janeiro, FEN/UERJ, beginning with the development and introduction of electronic workbooks, using the Internet. The primary purpose of the electronic workbooks is the generation of a motivating educational environment directed to Internet, in such a way as to make the education process more dynamic and interactive. In addition, it is the intention of this project to update and favour the distance learning, as well as introduce some flexibility into the class hours of the undergraduate students. Index Terms Electronic workbooks, Distance learning, Engineering courses, Engineering education. INTRODUCTION In the last years, the use of the Internet is expanding very quickly in Brazil and worldwide. Countless homepages are put at users disposal, being growing the number of those with access to the World Wide Web. Based on this fact, an increasing need to adapt the education system to that new reality is observed. The actual research work presents an initial contribution towards it, taking as a basis the development of a graphical and interactive electronic workbook that intends to integrate teaching and research with the use of Internet resources. The electronic workbook, denominated commonly as MecNet Project and described concisely in this work, has as main characteris tic the interactivity. Using the electronic workbook, the student/user has direct access to theoretical aspects of the subject in study, in this case regarding a classical discipline of the undergraduate engineering courses called Vector Mechanics. He has also direct access to some proposed and solved problems, which can be altered by the user in order to enhance the understanding of the concepts treated according to specific needs. This way, the undergraduate students have a graphical and interactive system, available for free in the Internet, which allows the student/user to visualize and understand the resolution of a very large range of engineering problems. These electronic workbooks work as laboratories to the students, so that they will be able to simulate and model engineering problems in the computer faster and with larger understanding and clearness of the involved concepts. It helps them to develop creativity, reasoning and to enhance the knowledge of the subjects regarding engineering courses. This work is presented initially as the first version of the developed software, an electronic workbook based on concepts and problems associated with Engineering Mechanics (Statics and Dynamics). THE DEMOCRATISATION OF THE INTERNET With the beginning of the so called information age, the Internet has been widely used at homes, companies and educational/research institutions. It is estimated that today in Brazil more than 70% of the academical students have access to the World Wide Web, and that about 30% have access to the Internet from their own residences. That shows to be growing the number of users with access to those resources. The Internet is with no doubt a powerful tool in the search of information. In a few minutes, one can obtain information related to several knowledge areas. It makes the users prefer to begin their researches, in a very simple way, from the search of data in the net. Such fact demonstrates that the Internet hasn t lost its educational character, and it is necessary that educational/research centers make available and motivate the use of those resources. In this context, the MecNet Project intends to contribute to reformulate and modernize teaching in undergraduate engineering courses in the Faculty of Engineering of the State University of Rio de Janeiro, FEN/UERJ. It intends to make available through the Internet a dynamic and interactive workbook, which will provide to the students a stimulating atmosphere to learn concepts related initially to Engineering Mechanics (Statics and Dynamics). 1 José Guilherme Santos da Silva, Faculty of Engineering, State University of Rio de Janeiro, FEN/UERJ, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, jgss@uerj.br 2 Nival Nunes de Almeida, Faculty of Engineering, State University of Rio de Janeiro, FEN/UERJ, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, nival@uerj.br 3 Ricardo Alves Santiago, Faculty of Engineering, State University of Rio de Janeiro, FEN/UERJ, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, ricardo@labbas.eng.uerj.br 4 Heloisa Valle da Silva Santos, Faculty of Engineering, State University of Rio de Janeiro, FEN/UERJ, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, heloisa@labbas.eng.uerj.br 5 Alexander Ribeiro Duarte, Faculty of Engineering, State University of Rio de Janeiro, FEN/UERJ, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, alex@labbas.eng.uerj.br 7D1-12
THE M ECNET PROJECT The MecNet Project intends to enhance to the maximum the access of the student/user to information. The system has guaranteed portability, in such a way that the student/user that use any operating systems can have access to the information available in the developed software. Therefore, it is enough that the user s computer be connected to the Internet and has a graphic browser (version 4.0 or superior). The software presents several sections associated with its uses. Throughout the program, the student/user has free access to theoretical aspects related with the subject in study. In sequence, proposed interactive examples are presented, as well as its solution. The student/user can still modify all the data supplied by the program in order to generate the solution of a new problem. The electronic workbook also supplies summaries related to each studied topic. Finally, the last section represents a reserved area for downloads, where the student/user can have direct access to his own version of the program, in order to use the workbook without the need of being connected to the internet. In this section the internet user can still copy to his computer other applications related with the topics approached in MecNet Project or even necessary to a better visualization of the workbook, such as Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.0. Countless computer tools largely used actually to construct dynamic homepages back the development of the electronic study aid. To develop the section of proposed problems are used DHTML (Dynamics HyperText Markup Language) programming techniques [1]-[4]. Those techniques include the group of languages formed by HTML (HyperText Markup Language) [1] and [2], CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) [1] and [3], and JavaScript [1] and [4], which represents a powerful web programming tool and guarantees portability. In the development of the MecNet Project s graphic design are used techniques for the creation of third generation sites [3] and desktop publishing techniques directed to the web [1], [3] and [5]. In order to give theoretical support to the subjects studied in the development of this project a technical reference already consecrated and usually used in the undergraduate engineering courses in the Faculty of Engineering of the State University of the Rio de Janeiro, FEN/UERJ, is adopted initially [6]. Next, the MecNet Project is described in a more specific way based on the windows of the program. Initially, when accessing the MecNet electronic workbook, the student/user visualizes the presentation screen of the program, containing the author s names of the project in subject. After the initial screen, the student has access to the first section of the workbook, which supplies a vision of its general topics. The user can now choose which subject he will study, according to his need. Starting from the choice done by the student/user, based on subject topics, he begins to have access to a new window, which contains all the information on the subject chosen previously. In order to enhance the learning as well as the uses of the electronic workbook, countless sub-levels are developed in the programming to create explanatory windows associated with the definitions of specific concepts belonging to a certain subject in study. Those windows can be accessed by the student/user at any moment, according to his specific need. The Figures 1 and 2 present explanatory examples of the uses of those windows by the student/user regarding, for instance, the basic definitions of the Einstein s theory and Pappus-Guldin s theorem, respectively. In the sequence of the work, the section of the MecNet Project related with the creation and solution of the proposed problems is presented. In this section, the student/user has access to Engineering Mechanics problems previously solved associated with engineering problems [6], as it is shown in Figure 3. The conception of those examples, as presented in Figure 3, is widely interactive, in such a way that the student/user can perfectly proceed to any modification regarding the initial numeric values supplied by the program, this way generating a new example. The resolution of this new example is totally backed by the electronic workbook. It takes charge of supplying the solution of the new proposed problem, formulated by the student/user, according to his ability, knowledge and specific needs. Thus, the electronic workbook works as a laboratory for the user, because this one will be able to simulate and model engineering problems in the computer with larger speed, understanding and clearness of the physical concepts involved in each exercise. This way, it is expected that the students develop creativity, reasoning and enhance their knowledge, regarding average subjects of undergraduate engineering courses. As mentioned previously, at the end of each proposed and previously solved problem the student/user has the option to alter the numeric values supplied by the electronic workbook. If the student/user chooses to modify these values, he will have access to a new window with blank fields, so as to be filled out, as it is shown in Figures 4 and 5. 7D1-13
FIGURE. 1 EXPLANATORY WINDOWS ASSOCIATED WITH EINSTEIN S THEORY. FIGURE. 2 EXPLANATORY WINDOWS ASSOCIATED WITH PAPPUS-GULDIN THEOREM. 7D1-14
Session 7D1 FIGURE. 3 NUMERICAL EXAMPLE GENERATED BY THE I NTERACTIVE ELECTRONIC W ORKBOOK. 7D1-15
FIGURE. 4 OPTION TO MODIFY THE ORIGINAL NUMERICAL VALUES. FIGURE. 5 OPTION TO MODIFY THE ORIGINAL NUMERICAL VALUES. 7D1-16
Considering the situation in which the numerical values supplied initially by the electronic workbook were altered by the student/user, after its modification the student will simply access the option OK, as presented in Figures 4 and 5. Then the user will come back to the previous window with the new solution of the problem already supplied by the program. Finally, the electronic workbook also presents an option where the user can consult, according to his need, a brief summary regarding any subject related with the theory. The student can also consult a section associated with an area set aside for downloads, where he can have direct access to his own version of the program, in order to use the electronic workbook without the need of being connected to the internet. FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS The current version of the electronic workbook, MecNet Project, only approaches the topics related to Engineering Mechanics (Statics, Kinematics and Dynamics) disciplines of undergraduate engineering courses in the Faculty of Engineering of the State University of Rio de Janeiro, FEN/UERJ. This research work shall also be continued, enlarging the extent of the electronic workbook to several other disciplines of undergraduate engineering courses. This way, new modules will be developed in order to allow the user to choose which discipline he wants to study. It is an objective also to create a system, incorporated into the MecNet Project, in which the student/user will have the possibility to send their doubts directly to the teacher of the disciplines. This would make the electronic workbook much more interactive, and would also enhance the undergraduate students learning. A version of the electronic workbook even more dynamics, interactive and stimulant can be developed in the future, with the uses of advanced techniques of desktop publishing. In order to achieve this objective, it can be developed a Flash environment, which would be more dynamic and interactive. Finally, in a stage a little more advanced, it is intended also to create a system capable of supplying answers to the student s most frequent questions. This way, a database can be used to store the necessary information, and usual techniques of artificial intelligence can be used to perform a rational search, in order to make available the best answer to the student/user of the electronic workbook. FINAL REMARKS This work presents a initiative of development and uses of an electronic workbook based in homepage concepts, MecNet Project, in order to contribute to the reformulation and modernization of the teaching of undergraduate engineering courses in the Faculty of Engineering of the Sate University of Rio de Janeiro, FEN/UERJ. The development of this research line, starting from the creation of the MecNet Project with its conception entirely based in an atmosphere of graphic, interactive, dynamic and stimulating study, demonstrates clearly that the students/users of the electronic workbook feel more motivated to study and to discuss concepts regarding the undergraduate engineering courses. Therefore, learning becomes more dynamic, what, with no doubt, allows the undergraduate students to take the most of the opportunity, in quantitative and qualitative ways, through a better understanding and visualization of the involved physical phenomena. Another point to be stood out concerns the flexibility of the undergraduate students schedules, since the democratisation of the World Wide Web, the internet, allows students/users to access the developed software, the electronic workbook, according to his readiness of time, even if they are not at the University. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The authors wish to thank CNPq and FEN/UERJ for their financial support to the project. Thanks are also due to the undergraduate students of the Computational Laboratory of the Engineering Fundamental Cycle, where this investigation was conducted. REFERENCES [1] Bell, I., Eby, M., Web Design, HTML e DHTML, Market Books Brasil, 2000, São Paulo. [2] Ramalho, J., A., A., HTML, A Referência Completa, Editora Berkeley, 1998, São Paulo. [3] Siegel, D., Criando Sites Arrasadores na Web II - A Arte da Teceira Geração em Design de Sites, Quark Books, 1998, São Paulo. [4] Moncur, M., Aprenda em 24 horas - Javascript 1.3, Editora Campus, 1999, São Paulo. [5] Clark, T., M., Filtros para Photoshop V. Efeitos Especiais e Design, Ciência Moderna, 1999, São Paulo. [6] Beer, F., P., Johnston, E., R., Mecânica Vetorial para Engenheiros, Makron Books, Volumes I e II, 1994, São Paulo. 7D1-17