ABSTRACT
Although interest in the WWW as a means to teach and to empower students is increasing, on-line classrooms are still few and far between. However, the newer Internet technologies may help change this. For example, developers are now experimenting with technologies that can provide users with reliable synchronous communication, using video cameras to provide access to live discussions in a WWW environment. This chapter discusses the various technologies and the uses to which they have been put over the Internet. It then goes on to describe practical case studies - experimental work at LMU that has attempted to learn more about the application of these technologies. For example, one LMU project (Section 7) designed an intelligent support system for users as they attempt to navigate through hypermedia-based educational materials, the type of material which is becoming increasingly utilised by CD-ROM reference materials as well as being the format of the World Wide Web. Another research project at LMU (Sections 8 and 9) involved designing, developing and evaluating a prototype WWW-based multimedia teaching tool - a test using HTML forms, colour images and MPEG video. The project was conducted between sites in the UK and Australia using the WWW and other Internet functionality to exchange and share information, giving valuable first-hand experience of the benefits and frustrations of online co-operative working. A third LMU research project (Sections 10 and 11) took this further and studied the applicability of teleworking technology within educational 71environments in general and compared collaborative working using email with the process of working together on such tasks in a face-to-face situation. Of particular interest were the perceptions of the participants regarding the collaborative process, as well as the efficacy of the process itself in terms of its outcome.
