*Corresponding Author 1 Copyright © 2010 by ASME Proceedings of the ASME 2010 International Mechanical Engineering Congress & Exposition IMECE 2010 November 12-18, 2010, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada IMECE2010-39207 ON THE UTILIZATION OF WEB-BASED COLLABORATION TOOLS BY STUDENT DESIGN TEAMS Michael D. Koch* Graduate Research Assistant School of Mechanical, Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering Oregon State University Corvallis, Oregon, USA kochm@engr.orst.edu Irem Y. Tumer Associate Professor School of Mechanical, Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering Oregon State University Corvallis, Oregon, USA irem.tumer@oregonstate.edu Richard J. Schulte Program Coordinator Open Design & Manufacturing Research Group ReRooting Collaborative Cleveland, Ohio, USA richard.j.schulte@gmail.com ABSTRACT Over the last couple decades, the engineering world has seen a steady increase in collaboration and knowledge sharing through predominantly web-based means. Facilitated by a growing number of tools that allow for data and knowledge to be easily transferred, the technological landscape that organizations operate in is completely different than even a couple years ago. Specifically for engineering design, mainstream tools such as email, forums and wikis have been researched in both a professional sense as well as in design education. The following paper looks to build off these studies by identifying and studying the wide range of tools that engineering students utilize on their own accord to collaborate and progress towards finishing a design project. Specifically, mechanical and industrial engineering students enrolled in introductory design courses at Oregon State University and Humboldt State University were observed, interviewed and surveyed regarding these topics. The following will outline the findings from this study, with hopes that this work can help others in the design education field better understand and make better use of the tools that students prefer to use. Also, as the next generation of engineers moves onto professional careers, the ability of engineering firms to understand how the younger generation collaborates and communicates will be important in shaping how engineering firms efficiently utilize new web-based tools in engineering design. KEYWORDS Collaboration, Knowledge Sharing, Computer Supported Cooperative Work, Design Education, Wiki. 1 INTRODUCTION In the past couple years, the internet has become increasingly pervasive in the daily lives of students and engineers as a method of communicating, collaborating and sharing information in various realms. Whether it is sending files and meeting updates through email or using advanced tools like distributed repositories to remotely edit project files, the internet has exploded as the predominant medium for successfully working on and completing engineering projects, both in the classroom and in the workplace. Based on recent studies [1], this trend does not show any signs of slowing down and with the increasing adoption of smartphones and mobile internet, such technologies are becoming ever more ubiquitous. As such, the integration and utilization of such tools into all aspects of design engineering education is important for preparing students for careers that increasingly rely on such tools throughout the entire engineering design process. The following paper will look at the use of such web-based collaboration tools as they relate to engineering design education. Specifically, a comprehensive study was performed