Integrating the Internet, multimedia components, and hands-on experimentation into problem-based control education

At the brink of a new millennium, a shift in pedagogy toward a learner-centered approach is emerging where critical thinking skills are fostered through problem based learning opportunities and innovative approaches to instruction and student work assessment. New media technologies are being effectively used to help achieve such goals in engineering education. The paper describes technology aided teaching of undergraduate engineering courses in control theory. Early results show that students are better motivated and their achievement improves compared to when more traditional methods of instruction are used in delivering the course content.