Multimedia Tutorials to Improve Visualization Skills in Engineering
Ivan Enrique Esparragoza · 2004
Engineering students require a high level of visualization skills not only in the design process but also in the solution of engineering problems. Many students have problems in the representation of a three dimensional space in a two dimensional plane or visualizing a two dimensional drawing as a three dimensional solid object. This problem has been addressed in almost every engineering graphics book but still the analysis of the problem is limited to the two dimensional format of the book. Due to this fact, two multimedia tutorials were introduced in a first year engineering design and graphics course to help the students to enhance their visualization skills. These tutorials provide the students the opportunity to solve graphics problems interactively using solid modeling and computer animations allowing the students to visualize in a very effective way the relationship between the solid object and its projection in the two dimensional plane. Even though these tutorials are still in the process of evaluation, the response from the students has been very positive. Other multimedia tutorials are planned to be developed and used in basic mechanics courses not only to reinforce the visualization concepts but also to assist the students to grasp the concepts.