Applying E-Learning System for Engineering Education--Challenges and Obstacles

Purpose: At present, humankind is facing rapid and profound changes in society, science, technology, economy and environment. The 21st century has witnessed extraordinary scientific and technological progressions. Improvement of technology has generated new educational technique known as e-learning. Nowadays, popularity of e-learning is growing rapidly and numerous educational organizations, public, academic and digital libraries are embracing it. Lately, engineering education is heading toward the blended education system as it successfully combines both chalk and talk system (face-to-face), computer-assisted learning methodologies and internet access feature to learners. Design/methodology/approach: This work discusses the potential of e-learning as an educational system for engineering topics and the challenges faced by educational organizations and public libraries as their partners in applying this system for engineering topics. In addition, number of national and international successful engineering e-learning trials that have been created, organized and/or hosted by educational organizations and public libraries are presented. Findings: The author presents challenges and obstacles that stakeholders, teachers, professors and librarians should be aware of to develop and support the e-learning system. Hence, a number of recommendations are provided to build a bridge linking e-learning and engineering education. Originality/value: This paper is a complementary work to a previously published study. In this paper, the author sheds light on the link between the e-learning system and the engineering education provided by the educational organizations and hosted by public libraries.