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Digital Libraries Project BEST Home | Project Info | Presentations | Publications | People | Links The World Wide Web and networked information technologies provide an unprecedented opportunity to develop a comprehensive infrastructure to support and facilitate educational initiatives in science, mathematics, engineering and technology (SMET). Internet-mediated learning environments provide mechanisms for the learner to be anyone, anywhere, at anytime. Although educators are now developing an enormous quantity of materials for use through the Web, their potential users face a daunting challenge when it comes to locating them, evaluating their quality and using them effectively. Understanding and overcoming this challenge is crucial if we are to fully exploit the opportunity to improve learning that these new resources have created (Agogino, 2000). Engineering PathwayNEEDS and TeachEngineerng (TE) are teaming up to form Engineering Pathway, the premium portal to high-quality teaching and learning resources in applied science and math, engineering, computer science/information technology and engineering technology - for use by K-12 and university educators.NEEDSThe creation of national digital resources, a digital learning community for educators and learners, requires an integrated, multi-disciplinary view of science, mathematics, engineering and technology education. Since the early 1990's, the BEST lab has been developing NEEDS - The National Engineering Education Delivery System (www.needs.org) which provides this vision for the engineering education community.SMETEBased on the experience in developing NEEDS, we have formed an alliance with over 20 partners, which include professional societies, academic institutions and commercial e-learning companies, to take the lead in developing a comprehensive resource for SMET education. The alliance is branded SMETE.ORGAgogino, A.M. (2000). "Developing a core integration System for a National Science, Mathematics, Engineering, and Technology Education Digital Library at www.smete.org", NSF Grant DUE-0085878 |