ABSTRACT
While the WWW has proved an effective medium for the dissemination of flexible learning materials, it has so far lacked the capacity to support the complex human interactions and richness of the classroom learning experience. At best, Web-based learning environments have used e-mail or proprietary bulletin boards to enable messaging between teachers and learners and relied on the pedagogical design and expertise of the teacher to build these into a meaningful instructional process. What is missing in many cases is an instructional design that goes beyond the incorporation of activities within the materials to implement a planned process of teaching and learning over time and among a group. The knowledge base and skills built over a century of classroom teaching are seldom transferred and applied to the new medium. In addition, some teachers have argued that the new medium demands new methods and in doing so, have perhaps discouraged the wider diffusion of the WWW as a teaching tool.
