Proceedings of the 2003 Systems and Information Engineering Design Symposium

The internet has created a vast set of resources available from anywhere in the world, at any time. This virtual in-formation repository also has the potential to serve as a virtual learning environment. It is the goal of this project to create an online classroom, for the purpose of enhanc-ing the learning experience of students from three interna-tional universities: the University of Virginia, the Univer-sity of the West Indies, and Mapua Institute of Technology. All three groups of students are participat-ing in a course called Environmental Systems Analysis, the purpose of which is to teach community-based management of municipal sanitation services. The site serves as a medium for communication and collaboration for the students throughout the completion of their course project, with an overarching goal of creating lasting relationships based on trust and common experiences. It differs from previous similar projects in that it is designed with the needs of financially restricted and less techno-logically proficient institutions in mind. Full-scale development of this tool was broken up into several components, including background research, users ’ requirements gathering, prototype design, and test-ing and revision. The site has been developed using pre-dominantly open-source technologies available to anyone with an internet connection. Additional deliverables of this project include a detailed user guide containing the specifications and requirements of the system, as well as a section detailing each of the functions within the site. The guide enables those unfamiliar with the technologies present in the website to quickly understand their uses and also serve as a guide for any university that wishes to es-tablish its own collaborative learning program. The pro