"We are experiencing a scientific and technological revolution of unprecedented proportions. Everywhere we look, technology is changing the way we work and live. Everywhere, that is, but in our classrooms. In an information age society we have factory era schools."

-U.S. Department of Education, "Technology Learning Challenge"
(Interagency Technology Task Force, 1995)

Web Enhancement in Theory

Improved efficiency and versatility in content
  delivery

More student-student and instructor-student
  interaction

Lerner self-pacing

Archiving advantages

Opportunity to integrate course content and
  material on the Web: active links, searching
  and more

Streaming Audio Applications

Sound effects (to enliven a site) Introductions (More than "Hello") Explanations (Discussions of charts and graphs) Tours (audio presentations that take users to other sites) An example from the textbook narrative of Sociology in Global Perspective:

Adapted from United Nations.World Population Prospects, 1995, p.101.

Tutorials (discussions of such subjects as how to do advanced searching in HotBot and Google)

      HotBot (web site)
      Google (web site)
      AltaVista (web site)

Online lectures (presentations of course work material in conversational lecture format, with accompanying notes and illustrations)

Advantages of Streaming Audio

On-demand convenience

Presentational advantages:
  opportunity to revise lectures

More lecturing content per hour

Online lectures free up class time

Design versatility, with the integration of
  lectures, tours and other enhancements

Pause and rewind features

Facilitates improved note-taking

A few minuses . . .

No "live" cues from students during
  lecture

Loss of "routine" pacing for courses

Technical problems, especially
  congestion

Software issues with student
  computers

Time-consuming to prepare (at first)

Some students don't like it.