An NSF pilot project on minority student retention

This paper is based on a pilot project for which the funding was secured by The University of Texas at Brownsville from the National Science Foundation (NSF) under its Instrumentation and Laboratory Improvement (ILI) program. The proposal is to develop a multimedia based computer assisted learning lab (MCALL) to increase the present low student retention rate and enhance the quality of education in science and engineering technology for a predominantly minority student population. To achieve the objective, efforts will be focused on: improving the understanding of concepts in computer science, biology, chemistry, and physics through multimedia based interactive tutoring and experimentation; and developing technical skills for students in the area of multimedia, modeling and simulation