D. Quiun1, A. San Bartolomé 1 and W. Silva2
- Professor, Department of Engineering, Pontifical Catholic University of Peru, Av. Universitaria 1801, Lima 32, Peru, dquiun@pucp.edu.pe
- Professor, Department of Engineering, Pontifical Catholic University of Peru, Av. Universitaria 1801, Lima 32, Peru, asanbar@pucp.edu.pe
- Associate Professor, Department of Engineering, Pontifical Catholic University of Peru, Av. Universitaria 1801, Lima 32, Peru, wsilva@pucp.edu.pe
ABSTRACT
Brick masonry is widely used in Peru for walls in many low rise buildings, such as dwellings, offices, schools, and alike. Also, partition walls in medium and high-rise buildings are made usually of brick or block masonry. The design and construction of such walls is regulated by the Peruvian Masonry Code issued in 2006. However, technical literature in masonry is still quite limited, and significant efforts are needed to teach seismic structural design and construction practices correctly.
In Peru, the courses of structural masonry for civil engineers students are limited to a few universities. The Pontifical Catholic University of Peru (PUCP) has developed most of the experimental research in masonry in Peru, and offers such courses in undergraduate and graduate level, in the classical way of lectures in classrooms and laboratory tests.
A relatively new approach to disseminate knowledge in this field is the use of virtual environment. The blog of masonry (http://blog.pucp.edu.pe/albanileria in Spanish) developed by Angel San Bartolomé has passed its first year offering a new way to communicate recent research reports to masonry users all over Peru and beyond. Nowadays, the graduate course is being offered for the first time in a virtual way for master students and it looks as a promising virtual course for students in Peru and other Latin American countries.
KEYWORDS: teaching, education, blog, masonry, virtual education, Internet
C7-2
