Competitive Design of Web-Based Courses in Engineering Education - Web-Based Engineering Education: Critical Design and Effective Tools - page 139

[13], replace “solid” parts with “fluidic” parts
[29], transition from a homogeneous structure to
a heterogeneous structure of the system or of the
external environment [3], replace an expensive
system with several inexpensive systems, compris-
ing some properties [27]; group (c): change the
degree of flexibility or density or volume [35],
use a mediator to do the action [24]; group (d):
extract or separate some disturbing parts from
the system [2], apply homogeneity principles
[33], replace an expensive system with several
inexpensive systems, comprising some properties
[27], use the resonance frequency [18].
The solution related to the target-function
“design for fast development and implementation”
shall follow several directions of intervention
that are common with the target-function “design
for scalability.” In this respect, materials can be
prepared in any format (e.g. .ppt, .pdf, .doc, .xls,
.jpg, .cdr, .avi, etc.) and a repository system is
used for file management (e.g. Moodle) to up-
load and download files on computers, too-see
principle 35. Multiple communication modes are
implemented (e.g. e-mail; Skype, Yahoo messen-
ger, web-cameras)-see principle 18. For a better
interaction with the classroom, a videoconference
system can be taken into account. Teacher uses
a remote desktop control server application (e.g.
VNC) for handling remotely any application that
runs on his/her computer. If a tablet PC is part of the
system, teacher can use a virtual whiteboard to in-
teract even more with students (e.g. CorelGrafigo,
Windows Journal, etc.). Moreover, teacher can run
specialized applications for monitoring computers
in the network. In addition, students can work in
close connection with the teacher for structuring
the classical course to a web-based course. In this
respect, each student can receive a small home-
work with the purpose of adapting a sub-chapter
of the classical course into a web-based one. This
means they will reformulate the content according
to their understanding, will add questions and will
indicate where more explanations and exercises
are required. Thus, teacher can easier and faster

intervene to develop the web-based course. This
action is in accordance with principle 13. Principle
27 encourages the use of virtual modules to train
students (e.g. for the course of industrial robot
design that is treated in this case study, students
can use robot off-line programming and model-
ling systems like RobotStudio, which have the
capability to be installed on a server and accessed
via internet from any location). The use of local
assistants for supporting teacher in classes is also
indicated in this case (principle 24). According to
principle 2, it is encouraged to replace the clas-
sical pedagogical methods with problem-based
and project-based learning methods. Cooperative
learning strategies are highlighted by principle
33. The solution meets the targets established
for fast development and implementation of the
web-based course (review the targets in Figure 4).
In Figure 5, deployment of TF 4 -related require-
ments into TF 4 -related performance characteristics
is revealed. The set of matrices from Figure 5 is
called “house of reliability.” Major considerations
in web-course design should be given to improve
the following metrics: mean time between failures,
average bandwidth required, signal delay and
resolution. With respect to this target-function,
several innovations are required to overpass the
conflicts existing between various metrics (see
Figure 5). Thus, innovative solutions are necessary
to avoid signal loss at low bandwidth, to avoid
signal delays at low bandwidth, to ensure high
resolution at low bandwidth and to avoid delays
if the resolution has to be kept high. From orga-
nizational point of view, innovation is required
for keeping a high level of interaction between
students and teachers. From targets point of view,
the main focus is on student-teacher interaction
and quality of signal transmission (see Figure 5).
In the case of TF 4 , the vectors of innovation
are directed towards three major areas: (a) to
approach the conflicts between performance
characteristics, (b) to approach targets, and (c)
to approach organizational challenges. For the
first category of problems, TRIZ reflects the