SURWEB was originally conceived as a project that supported student learning with information about the unique assets of the state of Utah. The educational philosophy of the project originated from a belief that student knowledge of their home cultures, coupled with access to the Internet, could be extended and leveraged to promote research and knowledge about the world.  By 2000, SURWEB has grown to a virtual archive of over 237 media collections with over 50,000 images available for teacher and student projects.  SURWEB content has expanded beyond Utah-centric themes to include a database of relevance to any geographic region in any academic subject area.

In 1996, SURWEB worked with strategic partners such as school districts, universities, and state and national parks to build an interface and database loaded with images of Utah.  Originally, students were employed to assist with information gathering while the project put its staff in place.  In October 1997, SURWEB solicited applications for experts and teachers to produce “Media Shows,” that is, customized multimedia presentations.   The ability to customize information resources for the needs of individual students in unique classroom environments remains one of SURWEB’s greatest strengths and remains true to the original vision that locally generated information resources are an effective teaching and learning strategy.