On-Line Computer Systems for Engineering Education State of the Art

Online computer systems for education have developed from a number of independent efforts with the common goal of using the computer as an aid in the educational process. These efforts can be generally separated into two classes, depending upon whether the primary purpose was instruction about computers or instruction of other subjects with the aid of computers. Such systems can be grouped into those that provide essentially programmed learning in a classical (CAI) tutorial fashion, those that attempt more free-form conversational interaction, and those where the computer serves in an adjunct role as simply another tool for the analysis of a given problem. Typically, an on-line system involves the use of a central computing facility that supports on-line satellite terminals as well as other services. Much of the early work was done with only teletype terminals and these are still used in many installations. However, the typewriter has limited graphics capability, so the use of visual display media has come into widespread use. A very recent trend in the sophistication of the terminal has been the use of a minicomputer as a component in the terminal. Concurrent with this development has been the utilization of minicomputers in a dedicated mode for a variety of educational purposes. It is clear that use of such systems to support education will grow rapidly in the future and that considerable commonality in the development of such systems will exist.