The Un-Lecture: a computer-assisted curriculum delivery approach for the effective teaching of mechanical design

This paper describes efforts to develop a curriculum delivery approach for the classroom that overcomes limitations inherent in the standard blackboard lecture and that more fully integrates the teaching of engineering science with the teaching of concrete engineering practice. Simple, HTML-based modules are under development that incorporate text, still images, and video clips to more closely couple concepts in mechanical engineering design with practical examples of their implementation. Two-dimensional dynamic simulation software will be used to help students visualize and analyze the motion of mechanisms, and mathematical software will be used to go beyond what can easily be presented on the blackboard. Results from preliminary work have been encouraging and suggest that incorporation of practical examples using computer-assisted multimedia will help students build connections between theory and practice.