Computer imagery and visualization in civil engineering education

Higher education institutions in the United Kingdom have invested significantly in the implementation of communication and information technology in reaching, learning, and assessment of civil and building engineering - with mixed results. This paper focuses on the use of digital imagery and visualization materials to improve student understanding. It describes ways in which these materials are being used in the civil and building engineering curriculum, and, in particular, how distributed performance support systems (DPSS) can be applied to make more effective use of digital imagery and visualization material. This paper centers on the extent to which DPSS can be used in a civil and building vocational and continuing professional development context by tutors in the form of an electronic course delivery tool and by students in the form of an open-access student information system. This paper then describes how a DPSS approach to education is being adopted at Loughborough University as part of the CAL-Visual project. After highlighting the main aims and objectives of the project and describing the system, this paper discusses some of the issues encountered during the design and implementation of a DPSS and presents some preliminary results from initial trials.