A classroom full of engineering students can work on problems simultaneously, sharing computer screens with teammates and their professor, in a special interactive computer lab in Colburn Laboratory.

The engineering computer-aided active learning classroom, known as eCALC, is the first of its kind on the University campus and is modeled on a similar center at the University of Pittsburgh. The lab contains 26 workstations, designed to accommodate up to 52 students who pair up on projects. That kind of teamwork is common in design classes, according to Annette Shine, associate professor of chemical engineering, who headed the faculty committee that oversaw eCALC's creation.

In the lab, an instructor can broadcast specialty software onto all 26 workstations simultaneously. The collaborative software, known as NetOp School, provides the instructor with a thumbnail view of all the student screens, allowing him or her to monitor each team's work and step in to assist anyone who is having difficulties. Students also can ask for help from their own stations.

Another feature of eCALC, Shine says, is that it permits easy use of UD's web-based Surveyor software, a kind of online survey the instructor can use to see if the class understands a problem or concept. As each workstation answers the question the instructor poses, the answer flashes back, showing the instructor what percentage of the class understands.

Shine says the system gives the instructor feedback from the entire class, as opposed to a traditional class where "a smart kid says something, and everyone else in the class agrees with her." As a result of the total feedback, Shine says, the instructor is in a better position to decide when the class is ready to move on to the next concept or problem in a lesson.