A computer-aided visualization tool for stochastic theory education in water resources engineering

In this paper, we propose and demonstrate the proof-of-concept for a computer-aided visualization tool for stochastic theory education in water resources engineering. Using Java Native Interfacing, the tool can wrap a space-time stochastic model written in any computer language and also not require any specific language compiler during tool usage. This feature also allows the tool to be implemented very easily on any configuration of currently used classroom PCs. We also gauged the merit of a computer-aided visualization tool in the classroom by conducting a survey of the civil engineering (CE) curricula of US universities, Questionnaires were distributed to the instructors via an online survey. Eighty-four percent of the universities surveyed were found to offer a general semblance of stochastic theory education in their curriculum for CE. A similar percentage of the total 241 courses that we initially surveyed were found to be available at the graduate level, while 4.5% and 11.5% were either dual-listed or undergraduate-level courses, respectively. Forty universities were found to have complete (integrated) courses dedicated to stochastic theory education (or a near-relative related discipline). 11.2% (27) of these courses were relevant to water resources engineering, while only 9.5% (23 courses) were related to surface water hydrology. Only 62.5% of instructors were active users of some kind of computer-aided visualization tools for classroom instruction. All instructors believed that a rapid visualization system to represent the effect of input (i.e., an aspect of stochastic theory) on output (i.e., application or representation of variability) would enhance the technology as a learning tool Surveyed instructors were unanimous in their willingness to integrate such an instruction tool for teaching theory using real-world examples of water resources engineering. However, 42% felt that such a tool would need to be user-friendly and graphically very attractive in order to be popular among students. We believe that with the demonstration of proof-of-concept of our proposed computer-aided visualization tool, the effectiveness of modernizing course curricula in CE for undergraduate water resources education can be made more compatible with the needs of the 21st century and that there is indeed sustainable demand in the classrooms for its institutional development. (C) 2009 Wiley Periodicals. Inc. Comput Appl Eng Educ 17: 398-411, 2009: Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com) DOI 10.1002/cae.20233