Criteria for peer-review of engineering courseware on the NEEDS database

An electronic database of engineering educational courseware, called the National Engineering Education Delivery System (NEEDS), has been developed by the SYNTHESIS Coalition. Engineering courseware is computer-based educational material that can be used to assist engineering students in their learning process and assist instructors in their pedagogy. Courseware on NEEDS, as with any textbook or journal publication, requires review to assure quality. To implement this review, we first examined existing schemes that evaluated courseware and then developed our own. We will implement a peer-review system that results in a three-tiered ranking of courseware on the NEEDS database: nonreviewed material, endorsed courseware, and premier courseware. Endorsed courseware will be peer reviewed to establish that the courseware has correct technical content, is easy to use, and is potentially useful to instructors other than the author. To accomplish this in a straightforward manner, we are going to implement a two-page peer-review form that provides a “gestalt” review of the courseware. To also recognize the exceptionally high quality pieces of courseware that will be on the NEEDS database, we will implement an annual award for “premier” courseware that will require greater documentation of enhanced learning and recommended pedagogical application. We are confident that once a peer-review process is implemented, the NEEDS database will gain credibility as a source of courseware that is complete, technically reliable, and aesthetically appealing.