This paper presents results of research on an intensive online graduate level course in Web-based instruction (WBI) delivered via the same medium. The classes, offered concurrently at the University of Memphis and at Georgia State University, provide students with experiences centered around three areas: being a student in an online environment;…

Reviews the use of computers to support distance learning in the multimedia teaching system of the British Open University from 1980-90. Topics addressed include hardware, courses using computers, software developments, the move to microcomputers, access, authoring tools, home-based computing, funding, and the outlook for the future. (15…

Describes the development of a generic learning platform for online distance learning and explains RISE (Real-time Interactive Social Environments), a Web-based system. Reports results of trials at the University of Hull Language Institute in an English as a Foreign Language course that investigated system usability, teacher roles, and student…

Suggests a new infrastructure--the digital plant--for supporting flexible Web campus environments. Describes four categories which make up the infrastructure: personal communication tools and applications; network of networks for the Web campus; dedicated servers and software applications; software applications and services from external…

The proliferation of online courses underscores the need to re-examine the foundations upon which courses are grounded. In particular, an emerging perspective in science education requires designers to account for scientific inquiry in student-centered science learning environments. With a focus on open-ended learning environments and grounded…

Distance Learning Providers serve large populations of learners, frequently offering the same course to different groups of learners over lengthy periods of time. This article argues that (re-) running e-learning courses with different combinations of learners and staff requires a distinction between abstract representations of courses and…

Susan Crichton and Gail Kopp explore how multimedia technologies help develop and support teachers' understanding of multiple intelligences in the classroom. They conceptualize the relationship between multiple intelligences, specific multimedia applications, and contemporary research and offer a model of distance delivery that provides…

This paper describes a multi-agent approach that aims at supporting learners involved in a collective activity. We consider pedagogical situations where students have to explicitly define the articulation of their collective work and then achieve the different tasks they have defined. Our objective is to support these students by taking some of…

The Distance Education Center (DEC) of the University of Southern Queensland (Australia) has developed a unique materials database system which is used to monitor pre-production, design and development, production and post-production planning, scheduling, and distribution of all types of materials including courses offered only on the Internet. In…

Knowledge management in organizations, the learning objects paradigm, the advent of a new web generation, and the "Semantic Web" are major actual trends that reveal a potential for a renewed distance learning pedagogy. First and foremost is the use of educational modelling languages and instructional engineering methods to help decide…

One of the most promising possibilities of the World Wide Web resides in its potential to support distance education. In 1996, the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria developed the "INNOVA Project" in order to promote Web-based training and learning. As a result, the Virtual Classroom Interface (IVA) was created. Several software…

This paper describes the design and development of TruVision, an online learning environment designed to enable blind and vision impaired students to develop skills and expertise in elementary and advanced information processing strategies to enable them to seek full-time employment within industry in such positions as administrative assistants,…

To develop a computer system to support cooperative learning among distributed students; developers should consider the foundations of cooperative learning. This article examines the basic elements that make cooperation work and proposes a framework for such computer supported cooperative learning (CSCL) systems. This framework is constituted of…

New information technology is rapidly becoming part of the localized education process, while offering the tools and the infrastructure for the establishment of a distance education process. At Rhodes University (South Africa), an Interactive Remote Tutorial System (IRTS) was built to support distance education. IRTS will be used as an…

The architecture of a web-based course management tool that has been developed at IIT [Indian Institute of Technology], Kharagpur and which manages the submission of assignments is discussed. Both the distributed architecture used for data storage and the client-server architecture supporting the web interface are described. Further developments…