Designing of E-Learning for Engineering Education in Developing Countries - Web-Based Engineering Education: Critical Design and Effective Tools - page 1

Chapter 1
Designing of E-Learning
for Engineering Education
in Developing Countries:
Key Issues and Success Factors
B. Noroozi
University of Guilan, Iran & University of Cincinnati, USA
M. Valizadeh
University of Guilan, Iran
G. A. Sorial
University of Cincinnati, USA
ABStrAct
Traditional education for engineers has shifted towards new methods of teaching and learning through
the proliferation of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT). The continuous advances in
technology enable the realization of a more distributed structure of knowledge transfer. This becomes
critically important for developing countries that lack the resources and infrastructure for implement-
ing engineering education practices. The two main themes of technology in designing e-Learning for
engineering education in developing countries focus either on aspects of technological support for
traditional methods and localized processes, or on the investigation of how such technologies may
assist distance learning. Commonly such efforts are threefold, relating to content delivery, assessment
and provision of feedback. This chapter is based on the authors '10 years' experience in e-Learning,
and reviews themost important key issues and success factors regarding the design of e-Learning for
engineering education in developing countries.