LEARNING- AND COST-EFFECTIVENESS OF A WEB-ENHANCED LINEAR CIRCUITS COURSE

摘要

During the past four years, a new version of the basic linear circuits course, which incorporates Web-based learning technology in the homework, has been developed at the University of Southern California. The software used for this purpose is Mallard, which is especially useful because it has the mathematical and computational functionality necessary for the problems in this course. The current project focuses on the quantitative cost- and learning-effectiveness of the use of this educational technology in this course. Data on two critical issues are being acquired: 1) Whether the course with its substantial online asynchronous homework component is as effective as a traditional synchronous course with similar content but with pen and paper homework; and 2) The comparative costs of the two modes of instruction. The plan is to compare the modified online course with a traditional course on the same material, and to measure cost and learning outcomes in each case during a span of four semesters. Initial results of the comparison are presented.