Development of highly interactive, on-line course on energy conservation: Learning strategies used and experience gained

Energy Conservation and Environmental Protection (EGEE 102) course has been taught at Penn State since the fall of 2001. This course was selected by Penn State under the "Courseware Initiative" to be offered as an online course. To develop the online version of EGEE 102, the Energy and Geo Environmental Engineering (EGEE) Department, Teaching and Learning with Technology (TLT), and the John A. Dutton e-Education Institute have collaborated to generate highly interactive, innovative learning objects. As a part of this endeavor, activities using Macromedia Flash were developed. The goal of these simulations is to engage students through student specific data enabled animations and enable students to learn concepts through automated interactivity. Interactivity involves online puzzles, drag and drop, fill in the blanks, problem solving with audio narrations, and online flash simulations to check and monitor the online learning. This course was taught online as a pilot version in spring of 2005 to 50 students. In fall of 2005 the course was subscribed by 350 students. This paper discusses the experience during the piloting phase and usefulness of different teaching and learning strategies. The strategies used for online class are 1) variation in instructional strategies, 2) visual reinforcements of students' attention and reinforce their learning, and 3) opportunities for students to provide personal insights and interpretations. This paper also discusses the student feedback and analysis of learning strategies used.