Course Modules

Multmedia-based learning tool for Material Handling

Module Overall Coordinator:
Dr. John A. Muckstadt
Operations Research and Industrial Engineering
Cornell University
Module Developers
Dr. Bala Ram (ram@ncat.edu)
Mr. Rajiv Girdhar (girdhar@ncat.edu)
Department of Industrial Engineering
North Carolina A&T State University
Educational Objectives:
Introduction to material handling equipment.
Intended Audience:
Freshman/ Sophomore level students in Industrial Engineering, Manufacturing Engineering and Business.
Intended Course:
Freshman and Sophomore level courses addressing Factory Layout, Material Handling or Design of Manufacturing Systems. Business courses addressing operations management.
Module Description:
While most engineering programs provide instruction in manufacturing processes, the teaching of material handling is usually not emphasized . Due to large variety of material handling equipment, it is usually not worthwhile to have instructional laboratories with material handling equipment, This module is intended to provide an introduction to the material handling equipment, It will show with the help of video clips the various applications of the material handling equipment; still pictures will be used to provide details on features of the equipment and issues in selection of a particular equipment for a certain application.
These are some of the Sample Screens as seen in the module
Sample Screen 1

This is the first screen of the module and it has four buttons Overview, Exploratory Questions, Tracking Scores, and Quit. A click on the first button brings up the overview screen which introduces the module to a first time user. The exploratory questions screen throws up questions at the user with probable answers and a click on the possible answers buttons updates the scores on the tracking scores screen, based on the correctness of the answer. The user can surf into the knowledge base from the questions screen in case he/she has to refer to some information. The quit button helps the user quit the module and provides an oppurtunity to save the progress and scores for future reference before quitting.
Sample Screen 2

This screen has information on the type of question, the serial number of the question, the question, 5 choices for answers, 5 buttons to select the right answer, and a window for correct answer - which shows up after the user has made his choice right or wrong. It also has buttons to navigate to the main menu, knowledge base, questions menu, and to move between various questions sequentially.
Sample Screen 3

A typical knowledge screen has a title informing about the class of material handling equipment being discussed, two stages for showing the images along with windows for text, and a stage to play a video clip with text window underneath it. It also has buttons to go to the knowledge base menu, questions menu, and to navigate sequentially between the knowledge base screens.
Hardware or Software Requirements:
PC with Level 2 MPC or better (486SX25Hz, SVGA card with 640 x 480 resolution, 4 MB RAM, 100 MB hard drive).
Dissemination Technique:
Progress Report was presented at Experiential Learning Workshop V at Cornell, To be used 'n appropriate courses in other consortium institutions and get feedback from its use.
Project Description:
About 30 minutes of video clips on material handling equipment and around 80 pictures of material handling equipment along with text and hypertext highlighting the features/application is a part of this module. The specific task here was as follows:

Project Milestones:
Product REALIZATION Consortium Homepage
Contact: Project Personnel
Creation Date: Friday, 15-Mar-1996 18:59:07 EST