University of Virginia

Teaching + Technology Initiative

A partnership between the Office of the Vice President & Provost and the Office of the Vice President of Information Technology.

e-Guru: A Mash-Up Culture in Higher Education

Ed Berger, Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering
Silvia Blemker, Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering
2007 TTI Fellows

Web 2.0 technologies have become a pervasive part of everyday life, especially for today's college students. Translation of these ideas into engineering education practice has the potential to greatly enhance student learning and performance. This TTI Fellowship will support the development of the "Engineering Guru" (e-Guru) an innovative deployment of Web 2.0 technologies for engineering education. Part wiki, part blog, part YouTube, e-Guru will: (i) provide a new method for communicating key concepts to students, (ii) establish a new framework for student self-learning (and "life-long learning"), (iii) enable student creativity and collaboration in applying fundamental concepts, and (iv) strengthen the connection and flow of material between courses in the engineering curriculum.