Web Technologies for Interactive Graphical e-Learning Tools in Engineering Education

E-learning has grown in importance and popularity recently. Yet, it rarely goes beyond the mere publication of lecture notes and upload of course projects by students. There are new developments allowing live lectures over the Internet and new e-teaching initiatives such as "Coursera" have been launched with the participation of leading universities. The current article analyses the critical features needed to maximise the benefit from this type of education and the software tools offering some of these features. It suggests ways for possible further developments based on the lessons learned.