Using multimedia courseware in engineering education

The paper presents the use of multimedia tools in teaching engineering courses. In particular we discuss the use of "courseware" in conducting classroom teaching for the first electrical engineering circuits course. Some of the questions and/or concerns that have been raised regarding the use of a courseware package and advantages and disadvantages of using such an approach including the developer's comments and students' reactions are included. A brief summary of the steps required to produce courseware is also provided. The results presented are based on an ongoing project that has been partially funded by the Pennsylvania State University and Lenohard Engineering Center of Excellence. The courseware modules are a series of executable files that can be used in a Windows environment. They also provide links to other useful software packages such as PSPICE and MATLAB. Various examples utilizing these programs are included in the package. A working courseware example is also presented.