1. This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 0126793, 0341468 and 0717624. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation ASSESSING IMPACT OF WEB BASED RESOURCES ON STUDENT LEARNING AND SATISFACTION IN A NUMERICAL METHODS COURSE Autar Kaw, Melinda Hess, Corina Owens, University of South Florida Egwu Kalu, Florida A&M University Steven Barnicki, Milwaukee School of Engineering Assessment Instruments: 1.student performance on a 32-question multiple-choice examination. 2.student satisfaction survey used to gather relevant data to evaluate reading assignments, class presentations and problem sets. Abstract: Effectiveness of web-based modules developed for a course in Numerical Methods was measured via two mixed assessment instruments – 1) student performance in a multiple-choice examination based on Bloom’s taxonomy, and 2) student satisfaction survey. Statistical analysis of the assessment data indicates that web- based modules for instruction improved both student performance and satisfaction. Student Performance Results The final exam consisted of 32 questions - eight topic areas each containing four questions. The four questions were then broken down further into two questions at the lower levels (knowledge, comprehension, and application) of Bloom’s taxonomy and two questions at the upper levels (analysis, synthesis, and evaluation) of Bloom’s taxonomy. Based on (Mean Prerequisite GPA) MPGPA, students were classified into one of three categories: low, medium, and high ability. The low ability level category was comprised of students in the 25th percentile of the sample (MPGPA ≤ 2.25); the medium ability level category was comprised of students who scored in the 50th percentile of the sample (2.25 3.25). Salient Features: Resources available for numerical methods 1.review pre-requisite information via primers; 2.describe numerical methods through textbook notes, presentations, worksheets, and multiple-choice questions; 3.show applications using real-life problems; 4.use anecdotes to illustrate special topics and pitfalls; 5.give historical perspectives; 6.incorporate experiments to illustrate use of numerical methods; 7.use blogs to answer questions in plain English. Users can choose resources based on a computational package: MathCAD™, Maple™, MATHEMATICA™ or MATLAB™; and engineering major: Chemical, Civil, Computer, Electrical, General, Industrial, or Mechanical Engineering. The website was awarded the 2004 ASME Curriculum Innovation Award, received the 2006 ASEE DELOS Best Paper Award, is ranked #9 out of 2.18 million hits in Google™ search for numerical methods, and is viewed by more than 100,000 unique visitors annually. We firmly share the following two philosophies: 1.We believe in “Having open dissemination of educational materials, philosophy, and modes of thought, that will help lead to fundamental changes in the way colleges and universities utilize the Web as a vehicle for education“ – MIT OCW 2.Second, we provide the resources that are pedagogically neutral that can be modified to suit anyone's needs. You NEVER need to login, or enter a password, or register. Current Education Research Activities: 1.Inclusion of experiments (report date December 2008) 2.Audiovisual digital content for whole course (report date December 2009) 3.Blogging on numerical methods (report date December 2009) 4.Self publishing without giving publishing rights (already started)