Next generation of tutorials: Finding technical information at Purdue

Abstract

Purdue University recently developed a multifaceted tutorial to provide just-in-time assistance for students seeking technical information. The tutorial incorporates an instructional, animated component that stresses the reasons why different kinds of technical information are important in an engineer's career. It also includes an expert system component, created with the open source program CLIPS, that allows the student to type in a question and receive a list of potential sources that could answer that question, with reasons why those sources might be relevant. By incorporating active and interactive elements, this tutorial will help students effectively fill their information needs whenever and wherever they are. This tutorial was created as part of an institutional grant to meet the needs of an introductory mechanical engineering technology design course that is famous for sending flocks of students to the library to find properties, standards, patents, and other technical information. The course also spawns intense loyalty of students that have completed the assignment, as they come back to campus to explain how they use their information skills on the job, and contribute new questions they have run across to the course. The components of the tutorial will be demonstrated, along with a synopsis of the assessment of its effectiveness. It's relevance to lifelong learning for students will also be discussed. © American Society for Engineering Education, 2007.