Engineering Pathway, NEEDS, John Wiley & Sons, Microsoft Research, Techsmith and Mathworks are pleased to announce the 2012 Premier Award for Excellence in Engineering Education Courseware, for which we are seeking submissions of exemplary courseware. The Premier Award is an annual international awards competition that recognizes high-quality, engaging, non-commercial courseware – technology-based materials  and learning innovations – developed to support and enhance engineering education environments. Beyond just recognizing outstanding courseware, the Premier Award evaluates and acknowledges exceptional learning experiences. We believe that our thorough peer review process, equal in rigor to a research journal review, has been successful in highlighting and rewarding the efforts of faculty members working on improving engineering education. Since 1997, thirty-three outstanding courseware packages and learning experiences have been rewarded. If you or someone you know has developed non-commercial courseware, applications or exceptional web sites designed to enhance engineering education, please consider submitting for the Premier Award.

Please visit the Engineering Pathway Premier Award pages or download the Premier Award Call for Submissions flyer for more information regarding submissions, prizes, past winners and sponsors. The winner(s) will be announced and prizes awarded at the 2012 Frontiers in Education Conference on October 3-6, 2012 in Seattle, WA. For more information, please contact: Joe Tront, (540) 231-5067, or Brandon Muramatsu.

Submission Deadline: July 13, 2012 - 5 PM ET

Last year, the 2011 Premier Award for Excellence in Engineering Education Courseware was awarded for M-Model8: An Online Homework Tool for Engineering Mechanics, by Edward Anderson of Texas Tech University.

The award was presented at the Premier Award Ceremony at the Frontiers in Education Conference, held last year in Rapid City, South Dakota.

The award-winning courseware was distributed on a thumb drive at the FIE Conference and is also available online. This year’s panel of judges comprised a diverse cross-section of experts in engineering education and interactive media. Sponsors of the award program are John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Microsoft Research, TechSmith and MathWorks.

M-MODEL8 is a full simulation of traditional engineering mechanics homework solutions including free-body diagram construction, known/unknown variables listing and mathematical modeling. M-MODEL8 is an open-ended system that utilizes an intelligent tutor, hints/tips, error checking, grading, iteration and repeated solutions to motivate students, help them practice in-depth thinking, develop their problem solving skills, cause them to reflect and help them develop intellectually. M-MODEL8 goes beyond other homework systems that are linear, rote process that relies upon multi-choice, short answer, pair matching and etc. user interactions and the dictums of the problem designer. M-MODEL8 includes a problem authoring tool that individual instructors may use to modify the provided problems to their tastes and create their own problems.

The Premier Award competition, hosted by the NEEDS/Engineering Pathway digital libraries, is open to a wide range of submissions of “high-quality, non-commercial courseware designed to enhance engineering education.” The Premier Award program has been underway for 15 years and has honored 27 winners over this time. More details on the Premier Award and current and previous winners can be found on the Engineering Pathway at: http://www.engineeringpathway.org/premier/

The Engineering Pathway is a portal to high-quality teaching and learning resources in applied science and math, engineering, computer science/information technology and engineering technology, for use by K-12 and university educators and students. Engineering Pathway is the engineering education “wing” of the National Science Digital Library (NSDL).