The Classroom of the Future: An Internet‐Delivered National Course on Thermal Management of Electronics

TLDR: In this article, Mechanical Engineering faculty members from three universities have come together to address this problem using a layered, multimedia delivery mechanism via the Internet, which has resulted in the first-ever, live, full-duplex, Internet course taught at any of the three partner universities: Auburn University, the University of Maryland, and University of Minnesota.

Abstract: Teaching inter-disciplinary material poses special challenges due to the diversity of student backgrounds. This problem is compounded if the material being taught is intended for both undergraduate and graduate students. Mechanical Engineering faculty members from three universities have come together to address this problem using a layered, multimedia delivery mechanism via the Internet. This has resulted in the first-ever, live, full-duplex, Internet course taught at any of the three partner universities: Auburn University, the University of Maryland, and the University of Minnesota. With the addition of colleagues from industrial sites such as Philips in the Netherlands and three other universities in Japan, Singapore, and Australia, the next offering will expand to become an international course. The authors hope to illustrate that a course delivered over the Internet adds significantly to the learning process in a cost-effective manner.