The Introduction to Transportation Engineering undergraduate course at the University of Florida is the first real experience students have with highway engineering and traffic analysis. It is taught generally by a doctoral student under the guidance of a UFTI faculty member.

One of these faculty members, Dr. Scott Washburn, has recently created a new software program that will be integrated into the class as a resource, thanks to a grant from the Southeastern Transportation Research, Innovation, Development and Education Center (STRIDE). It is also intended to be used at other educational events throughout the school year, such as Benton Engineering Council’s Engineers’ Week at UF and the Florida Junior Science, Engineering, and Humanities Symposium laboratory visits for high school students. At these events, students will be able to easily interact with the software and quickly visualize how their input settings affect traffic operations.

The program is focused on signalized intersection simulation and will help teach students about queuing theory and signal operation and analysis, traditionally difficult topics in the introduction class.

Most, if not all, commercial traffic simulation software programs have a significant learning curve for their use, particularly in the area of network coding and inputs specification. In an introductory-level class, there is little to no time available to devote to learning software operation. The focus needs to be on learning the concepts and theory of the subject matter, rather than network coding details, which usually vary from program to program.

Software programs can be valuable learning tools, if the program is designed with the focus on education. With a well-designed signalized intersection simulation program that is focused on education and considers pedagogical issues, student interaction with the program through active-learning exercises will allow them to easily visualize the relationship between the various inputs and performance measures, which should lead to more efficient and effective student learning.

To find out more, visit http://stride.ce.ufl.edu/signalized-intersection-simulation-program-for-education.
To obtain a copy of the program, contact Dr. Scott Washburn at swash@ce.ufl.edu.