The US National Science Foundation has established a program to create a National Science, Mathematics, Engineering and Technology Education Digital Library (NSDL). One of the subsidiary NSDL libraries under development is the National Civil Engineering Educational Resources Library (NCERL). The first phase of NCERL is the creation and collection of digital resources in three areas of civil engineering-geotechnical (soil), rock, and water engineering (GROW). The concept of interactivities guides the design, development, and evaluation efforts of the GROW digital collection. This article describes the salient features of GROW, defines and discusses interactivities as an emerging, integral part of teaching and learning in civil engineering education. Interactivities take place at three distinct levels: the information resource, the collection, and the context. Very simply, the concept of interactivities can be defined as the emphasis on structured representations of interactive multimedia resources. Additionally, resources are designed with rich learning tasks and organized in pedagogical collections supplemented with contextual information. Preliminary evaluation of GROWNCERL using interactivities is briefly described.
BackgroundThe Web has become the primary system for publication and dissemination of information anytime anyplace. The growth of information on the Web has been phenomenal, but this growth has come at a price. It has become time consuming and often frustrating to try to find quality information on specific topics of interest. It is equally clear that most electronic resources mimic the print medium and do not take advantage of the fluency, permeability, and interactive nature of digital media to enhance learning. One way to alleviate information seeker frustration and to facilitate learning is to develop digital libraries that let users discover and interact with quality digital resources on a 24/7 basis. One such digital library under development is the National Science, Mathematics, Engineering and Technology Education Digital Library (NSDL), sponsored by the US National Science Foundation (NSF). NSDL is envisioned as a network of learning environments and digital resources; these are being systematically developed as subsidiary libraries to enhance the quality of science, mathematics, engineering, and technology education. NSDL will provide integrated services while subsidiary libraries will provide both content and services. Civil engineers plan, build, construct, maintain and improve systems such as water, sewer, buildings, hydropower and transportation on which we depend every day. The water we drink, the roads we drive on, the bridges we cross, and the recreational facilities we enjoy all result from civil engineering activities. Most people take these systems for granted, only paying attention when, for example, the water doesn't taste good or the roads have potholes. People are stunned by natural disasters from earthquakes, floods and hurricanes and, when such disasters occur, mour...
