The haptic paddle (shown in Figure 1) is a motorized force-feedback joystick which allows students to feel forces generated by interactions with various virtual environments. It was originally developed and used as a teaching tool for dynamic systems at Stanford University. Since then, many universities, including Johns Hopkins University, Rice University, University of Michigan, and University of Utah, have contributed to the development of this inexpensive, portable haptic device (see the EduHaptics webpage for more information). At Vanderbilt University, we have incorporated the haptic paddle in the System Dynamics laboratories (see below) and have made many improvements in both hardware and software. These improvements are efforts from the Medical and Electromechanical Design (MED) Lab in the Department of Mechanical Engineering. In collaboration with California State University Long Beach (CSULB), we have also implemented the haptic paddle into an Introduction to Mechanical Engineering course and a graduate level haptics course (materials coming soon).