Incorporating shared virtual environments across the curriculum

In response to a new and changed future for engineering and technology, Old Dominion University's College of Engineering and Technology (USA) has made a commitment to incorporate "virtual collaborative engineering" concepts across the curricula of its undergraduate engineering and technology programs. Supporting this commitment are two of the College's "Enterprise Centers": the Virginia Modeling, Analysis and Simulation Center (VMASC); and the NASA-sponsored Center for Advanced Engineering Environments (CAEE). These Centers have substantive research experience with the key disciplines that enable e-engineering. This paper describes the overall plan to execute our commitment of incorporating virtual collaborative engineering environments and preparing our students as "e-engineers". The authors also describe results of the first step in the college-wide plan: a pilot project to redefine their required freshman engineering and technology course into the e-engineering paradigm. This course has been designed and implemented in collaboration with NASA's Intelligent Synthesis Environment (ISE) program.