PROJECT TOPIC AREAS

1. Digital Library of Instructional Software (Faculty-suggested)

Digital Library of Instructional Software:

National Engineering Education Delivery System (NEEDS)

Sponsor:
Brandon Muramatsu, NEEDS Project Manager
3112 Etcheverry Hall
(510) 643-1817
mura@needs.org

NEEDS is an National Science Foundation (NSF) funded project to develop a database of instructional software for engineering education (www.needs.org). This courseware can be downloaded and used to enhance the educational process by anyone, anywhere. The NEEDS team is developing an integrated, scalable system to meet the search and retrieval needs of our target users -- students and faculty in engineering. The NSF is also interested in expanding the scope and content of the database to include instructional courseware in math, science, and business.

The NSF has tasked NEEDS with developing a sustainable business model that goes beyond the current NSF-only funding. What should this model look like? What should be the organization for this entity? What services should the entity provide? What role should traditional textbook publishers play? What role should software publishers play? What role should hardware manufacturers play? What role should universities and government entities play? What role should professional societies play?

2. Berkeley Software Forum Choice Model (Faculty-suggested)

See attached.

3. Smart Home Design (Faculty-suggested)

There appears to be a market for remotely controlled "smart consumer products" for the home. Examples of smart products for the home are emergency fire suppression systems, hot tub heaters, garden watering systems or space heating control. These products need to be designed so that they can be remotely initiated and possibly programmed via a remote WWW interface. In this project, each team is to determine a set of features and functions that such a system might control and design the corresponding WWW interface. The product will need to be prototyped for user studies and presentations but the hardware does not need to be fully functional. The WWW user-interface should be prototyped for the final presentation. The focus should be on the customer demand, functional needs, product design specifications and WWW interface to best serve these needs.

Last modified on 28 August by Andy Dong