Review by: Reichert, Raimond (2004-06-08)

The U.S. faces a potentially serious shortage of engineers in the near future, at a time where science and engineering jobs are expected to play an even more important role than today. This is expected to become a serious economic problem, and it is a problem which has no single solution. As one approach to increase the awareness of and the interest in engineering among middle and high school students, the authors have implemented a nation-wide internet-based bridge design contest.

The contest is entirely web-based and does not require the construction of a physical device, contrary to other engineering contests and with the goal to allow as many students in the target population as possible to participate. Students create their bridge design models with a specifically developed software. Though this software resembles standard CAD software, its user interface is substantially simpler to use, and great care was taken to enhance the usability of the software. Students can execute simulated and animated load tests of their bridge models. These tests give them immediate feedback whether their design is successful. To partake in the contest, they must try to find an optimal design, that is, a successful design with the lowest possible cost. They can then submit their design to the contest web server which shows them the ranking of their design, calculated automatically, with regards to all other submitted designs.

Though the article does not once mention elearning per se, the project described covers different aspects of elearning in innovative ways. It is entirely web-based and accessible to all students; students use an easy-to-use educational software tailored to the purpose of bridge design and with integrated, automatic feedback. They can work on their design anywhere, anytime. The contest encourages team-work among bridge designers, and the challenging nature of the contest further motivates collaborative learning. The article concludes that contests in other (engineering) disciplines could be developed, given a suitable (design) problem, that is, a problem with no obvious best answer which can be visualized and evaluated by some software.