Integration of the personal computer into undergraduate electromagnetics courses

The author describes the courseware for computers in electromagnetics at the College of Engineering of Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. The College of Engineering at Virginia Tech developed software packages to support instruction in six areas of engineering. The thrust of the project was to develop animated graphics to illustrate difficult concepts in time-varying electromagnetic fields. Electromagnetic waves was chosen because of the difficult space-time concepts involved. Motional graphics are used to illustrate the mathematical and physical developments presented in the textbook and in the classroom. Subsequent to the internal development program CAEME funded a continuation of the effort. The code was rewritten to increase its ease of use and reduce module load times to a few seconds.<>