Grow

1
Grow NCERL A Digital Library of Interactive
Collections in Soils,
Rock and Water Resources Engineering
Muniram Budhu, Professor, Department of Civil
Engineering Engineering Mechanics, University
of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona, 85721 Guest
Professor, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology
(ETH), 8046-Zurich, Switzerland (until Oct.1,
2002)
2
Topics

• Context and Background
• What is Civil Engineering?
• NSDL GROW Overview
• Technical Background
• Demonstration

3
What is Civil Engineering?
towards a National Civil Engineering Library
A better world by creative,economical design and
construction
The bridges that you cross
The roads that you drive
The water that you drink
The parks where you play
4
Civil Engineering Projects
towards a National Civil Engineering Library
Three Gorges Dam, Yangtze River, China
Gateway Arch, St. Louis, MO
Petronas TowersKuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Building new structures while keeping existing
(transportation) systems in use Light (mono)
rail system in Seattle, Washington
5
Civil Engineering Disciplines
towards a National Civil Engineering Library

• Environmental Engineering
• Geotechnical Engineering
• Hydraulics and Water Resources Engineering
• Structural Engineering
• Transportation Engineering
• Construction Management
• Hydropower Engineering

6
National Science, Mathematics, Engineering and
Technology Digital Library
Sponsored by the NSF to create a digital learning
place for science, mathematics, engineering
technology teaching and learning that encourages
and supports users to discover, explore, create
interact with digital resources anyplace-
anytime.
7
National Civil Engineering Resource Library

• MISSION To encourage and promote interest,
  exploration and learning in Civil Engineering
  through the development, collection, and
  dissemination of reviewed and ranked interactive
  learning resources continuously enhanced by new
  technological innovations.

8
Digital Library
MISSION To make DL not only to access resources
and information services but as a
anytime-anyplace source of instruction.
9
DL Impact on Education

• Anytime-Anywhere Learning Environments
• Customizable/Personalizable Spaces
• User-Centric Learning Environments
• Technologically Enhanced Learning Environments
• Dynamic learning objects repackage and reused.

10
Accomplishment of Mission
This mission will be accomplished by

• Demonstrating the impact that civil engineering
  has on daily activities through context and
  demonstration

• Providing free, high-quality, reviewed and ranked
  interactive digital learning objects that can be
  used for self-study or repurposed for
  instructional needs.

11
Central Idea
Geotechnical, Rock and Water Resources Digital
Library

• We can meet the educational needs of a wide cross
  section of learners (K-12, undergraduates,
  graduates professional engineers) by
  repackaging and re-purposing basic digital
  educational materials.

toward a National Civil Engineering Resource
Library
12
What is the connection?

• GROW is one of several projects funded by the
  National Science Foundation to provide digital
  library content for the NSDL

GROW
Collection
Collection
NSDL
Collection
Collection
13
Collaboration

• Interdisciplinary Collaboration
• Team Collaboration
• NSDL Project collaboration

14
Who is involved

• Muniram Budhu, Project Director - Professor,
  Department of Civil Engineering
• John Kemeny, Professor, Department of Mining and
  Geological Engineering
• William Rasmussen, Professor, Department of
  Agric. Biosystems Engineering
• Maliaca Oxnam, Engineering Librarian, University
  of Arizona Library
• Paul Bracke, Systems Librarian, University of
  Arizona Library
• Jeremy Frumkin, Systems Librarian, University of
  Arizona Library
• Wayne Brent, Instructional Applications Manager,
  CCIT
• Ronan Dempsey, Project Manager, Department of
  Civil Engineering
• Leo Przybylski, Systems Developer, Department of
  Civil Engineering
• Elena Berman, Assessment Specialist, Assessment
  Enrollment Research
• Anita Coleman, Professor, School of Information
  Resources Library Science

15
What is unique about GROW?

• Most projects are collecting quality content in
  specific areas
• For GROW, we are not only collecting but also
  creating quality content

16
Focus

• Interactive, multimedia, educational resources
• Story-booked to emphasize active learning
• Flexibility - content re-purposed to create new
  resources
• Educational outcomes

17
Learning Object Structure
A base content piece (ex. a picture, a text
piece, a data file)
Element
A collection of learning units with a clear
learning outcome Contains educational elements
(ex. objectives, activities, assessments) Should
guide a user through a sequence of learning
units
An arrangement of elements to form a lesson The
smallest self-contained learning
object Interactive in nature
Learning Unit
Module
Theme
A subject or topic covered in a series of modules
18
towards a National Civil Engineering Library

Themes
C R E A T O R S CONTRIBUTORS
U S ERS
Modules
Learning Unit
Element
19
Review Process
20
Technical Overview

• What we are trying to do?
• Developing high quality educational resources.
• Store, maintain, identify, access and evaluate
  the content of the three collections.
• Integrate with NSDL - harvesting our metadata and
  integrate with their portal.
• How are we doing it?
• Content Development Flash, Authorware, HTML and
  Director
• Service Front End SHTML, JSP Middle Tier
  Java, SQL Database MySQL NSDL Repository -
  OAICat

21
Work Flow

• Flash
• Professors story board ideas.
• Professors work with developers (students) to
  build interactive pieces.
• Flash embedded in HTML.
• Corrections are made.
• Place on a temporary web site.
• Review and rank

22
NSDL Architecture

• Current NSDL
• architecture.

23
GROW Architecture

• Three Layers
• Portal
• Logic
• Storage

24
Code Issues

• Interoperable
• Reuse code for other NSDL projects.
• OAIcat
• Allow other groups in future to reuse our code.
• Open Source
• Ant, java based build tool.
• Tomcat, servlet engine for JSPs.
• Apache, web server.
• MySQL, our database.
• All free software and available online.

25
Metadata

• Metadata
• (DC, DCed, 3 IEEE, GROW)
• For Example Title, Subject, Description,
  Creator, Contributor
• Fitting in with NSDL
• Metadata Repository
• OAI Harvest, OAI Service
• OAI - Open Archives Initiative develops and
  promotes interoperability standards that aim to
  facilitate the efficient dissemination of
  content.
• Portals NSDL has gone with UPortal initiative.
  We are currently evaluating this.

26
Demonstration

• Change of Phase
• Mudslides
• Virtual Lab
• Rock
• Water
• Functionality (Search, Contribute, Review)

27
Current Status

• Moving into testing phase - Prototyped the
  Search, Contribute and Public Review.
• OAI service is in testing phase
• Content development is moving along and we hope
  to have a public site available soon.

28
Partnerships

• Macromedia
• John Wiley Sons
• Geo-Institute (ASCE)
• American Rock Mechanics Association (ARMA)
• Sustainability of Semi-Arid Hydrology and
  Riparian Areas (SAHRA)
• Corbett Elementary School
• Catalina High School

29
Comments

• How will the resources be used?
• Would faculty, students, engineers and the public
  use the resources?
• Will the resources enhance learning?
• How will the resources be sustained beyond NSF
  funding?

30
For Information

• Muniram Budhu
• Project Director
• budhu_at_u.arizona.edu
• or
• Ronan Dempsey
• Project Manager
• dempseyr_at_engr.arizona.edu