World Transactions on Engineering and Technology Education © 2004 UICEE Vol.3, No.1, 2004 11 INTRODUCTION Traditional methods of educating students have well-proven advantages, but some deficiencies have also been detected. A typical problem has been how to engage students with appropriate information and communication technologies (ICT) during the learning process. In order to implement innovative interactive communication and learning paradigms with students, teachers should make innovative use of new ICT [1]. Although multimedia material is provided in a number of formats, including textual, images, video animations and aural, educational systems are not designed according to current teaching and learning requirements. That requirement is to efficiently integrate these formats in well-proven means, eg through the Web. The system described here does this by introducing Web3D, virtual and augmented reality (AR) in the same Web-based learning support application. Research into educational systems associated with the use of Web3D technologies is very limited. Web3D has the potential for a number of different applications ranging from 2D to 3D visualisation [2]. One of the most appropriate means of presenting 2D information is through the WWW Consortium [3]. On the other hand, a promising and effective way of 3D visualisation is AR, which combines computer-generated information with the real world, and it can be used successfully to provide assistance to the user necessary to carry out difficult procedures or understand complex problems [4]. An overview of existing AR systems in education and learning has been presented elsewhere [5]. A more recent educational application is an experimental system that demonstrates how to aid teaching undergraduate geography students using AR technologies [6]. An educational approach for collaborative teaching targeted at teachers and trainees that makes use of AR and the Internet has been illustrated by Wichert [7]. An educational system is presented here for improving the understanding of the students through the use of Web3D and AR presentation scenarios. An engineering and design application has been experimentally designed to support the teaching of mechanical engineering concepts such as machines, vehicles, platonic solids and tools. It should be noted that more emphasis has been given to the visualisation of 3D objects because 3D immediately enhances the process of learning. For example, a teacher can explain what a camshaft is using diagrams, pictures and text, etc. However, it still may be difficult for a student to understand what a camshaft does. In the current system’s Web3D pictures, text and 3D model (which can be animated) are visualised so that the student can manipulate and interact with the camshaft, and also see other related components such as the tappets, follower, etc, arranged as they might be with an engine. In this article, the authors present four example themes to support the teaching of engineering design. These four themes may represent different courses or different teaching sessions as part of the same course. The remainder of this article describes the requirements for augmented learning, provides a brief discussion of the presented system’s architecture, and illustrates how the system might be used to support teaching processes using Web3D and AR technologies. Finally, conclusions are made and future work suggested. THE REQUIREMENTS OF AUGMENTED LEARNING The requirements for virtual learning environments have been already well defined [8]. However, in AR learning environments, they have not been systematically studied. In general, any educational application requires technological, pedagogical and psychological aspects to be carefully investigated before their implementation [9]. Especially when introducing new technologies, such as Web3D and AR into the Web3D and augmented reality to support engineering education Fotis Liarokapis, Nikolaos Mourkoussis, Martin White, Joe Darcy, Maria Sifniotis, Panos Petridis, Anirban Basu & Paul F. Lister University of Sussex Falmer, England, United Kingdom ABSTRACT: In the article, the authors present an educational application that allows users to interact with 3D Web content (Web3D) using virtual and augmented reality (AR). This enables an exploration of the potential benefits of Web3D and AR technologies in engineering education and learning. A lecturer’s traditional delivery can be enriched by viewing multimedia content locally or over the Internet, as well as in a tabletop AR environment. The implemented framework is composed in an XML data repository, an XML-based communications server, and an XML-based client visualisation application. In this article, the authors illustrate the architecture by configuring it to deliver multimedia content related to the teaching of mechanical engineering. Four mechanical engineering themes (machines, vehicles, platonic solids and tools) are illustrated here to demonstrate the use of the system to support learning through Web3D.