Peer Review

Fundamentals of Engineering Review

Material Detail page

Reviewed:: Apr 13, 2006 by Engineering

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Ratings

Overall Rating:

Content Quality:

Effectiveness:

Ease of Use:

Overview:: This object is an online version of a FE Review. It is a site where topics for
the Fundamentals in Engineering Exam(Morning Session) are available for
self-paced reviews by Chemical, Civil, Electrical, Environmental, Industrial,
Mechanical,and Other/General Engineering majors. However, the specific topics
(Afternoon Session) are currently available for reviews in the Chemical,
Electrical,Industrial, and Mechanical Engineering modules. Missing are the
Civil, Environmental, and Other/General Engineering modules.

A user can select a major topic, and subsequently sub-topics are presented for
the user to choose. Once a subtopic is chosen, the user is presented with a
summary of the relevant basics or fundamentals by default. In the basics,
sub-topics have good graphics and in some there are also Javascript
interaction/animations which are helpful in enhancing the understanding of some
basics. The user can review the basics or proceed to examples or problems of
the user's choosing. The user can navigate from one sub-topic to another rather
easily by the menu provided at the top of the page.
Type of Material:: Topics in the fundamentals of engineering.
Recommended Uses:: Primarily preparation for the FE exam by engineering seniors. It can also be
used by lower level students to enhance their basic understanding of engineering
fundamentals.
Technical Requirements:: Reviewer's system is a PC with WinXP Pro.

It would appear that the software was written to be fully compatible with IE
because it works well in IE with no glitches. However, it does not work well in
Firefox 1.0.7 or Mozilla 1.7.11. It was not tested in Netscape.
Identify Major Learning Goals:: This website will help senior students prepare for the FE Exams. In addition,
students at lower levels can also benefit from this website by using the basic
materials as additional learning resources to enhance their understanding of
various topics.
Target Student Population:: It is mainly targetted at university engineering seniors but other audiences who
have an interest in enhancing their learned fundamentals can also benefit from
the contents of this website.
Prerequisite Knowledge or Skills:: Completion of at least the first three-and-a-half years of the appropriate
engineering program curriculum.

Content Quality

Rating:
Strengths:: It covers all the fundamental topics in the FE Exam. It has a reasonable number
of examples and problems for users to study and practice. The practice exams
allow a user to generate up to 60 questions. And it includes a timer which is a
nice feature.
Concerns:: Accuracy of the examples and problems provided is a concern. The examples and
problems need to be checked thoroughly for mistakes and typographical errors.
For instance, a number of mistakes were encountered in the Dynamics area alone,
the reviewer's primary area of interest.

So, at present, it is an unknown whether there are any mistakes in the other
topics.

The following are a sample of the errors found in Dynamics area:

Under Fundamentals-Morning/Dynamics/Kinematics of Particles/Problems:
Problem 1: Data used in solution is not the same as in the problem statement
Problem 6: Problem statement asks for acceleration but multiple choice answers
are given as lengths. However, solution shows the correct answer.

Under Specific - Afternoon/Mechanical/Dynamics & Kinematics/Examples:
Example 1: Diagram shows 20 m distance but problem statement says 8 ft from ball
machine
Example 2: Multiplication error - 150*9.81=1471.5 and not 147.15. The reviewer
has noticed that this seems to be a common occurrence in the solutions that were
examined, i.e., often off by a factor of 10.

Potential Effectiveness as a Teaching Tool

Rating:
Strengths:: The potential is there for use as an additional resource tool where students can
use the material as a supplement to test their knowledge in certan topics.
This will be useful only if the website can provide new questions on a regular
basis. A very effective site for anyone intersted in engineering and courses in
engineering.
Concerns:: With the presence of mistakes, it will not be an effective tool. It may
frustrate the user and the website may lose respect of the user.

Ease of Use for Both Students and Faculty

Rating:
Strengths:: It is easy to navigate through each topics as well as basic, examples, and
problems. Clicking on the right answer reveals the solution is nice.
Concerns:: It works fine in Internet Explorer. But there are instances when the Back
button is used, certain pages may show up as blank. By clicking on the Back
button twice more, will the appropriate page be shown.

It does not work well in Mozilla 1.7.11 or Firefox 1.0.7. Some links are not
accessible. In some instances, the Back button has no effect.

This website was not tested in Netscape. The reviewer does not have Netscape
installed.

Other Issues and Comments:: Under Practice Exams/Generate Exams:

There is a flaw in the software. By selecting Afternoon Exam (Mechanical) and
select Total Problems to be 60, it will show only one question repeated 60
times.
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