Footnote [15]:
There are three components in electronic distance education: audio/voice, content material and video (in order of its importance). Experiences of distance educators show, if these three components can be separately controlled by students, they often cut out the instructor's video in order to concentrate on hearing his/her voice and viewing and improving the delivery speed of other content materials (e.g., text, graphs/diagrams, images, etc.). Given these student preferences, shifting the delivery system to digital Internet from analog -- and expensive -- cable television or satellite makes sense. This shift also encourages use of advanced Web technologies to develop superior instructional materials rather than reliance on talking-head style presentations that resemble traditional lectures. Advanced Web technologies are excellent vehicles for providing creative, experiential distance education. For example, Virtual Reality Modeling Language (VRML) holds substantial promise as a simulation environment for instructional delivery via the Web. In particular, the ability to model molecules, chemical compounds, biological structures and physical phenomena in three dimensions offers a level of interaction and visualization that is usually not possible with traditional laboratory equipment. The high speed, broad-band Internet approach combines the advantages of advanced Web technologies with improved audio and video quality at a reduced cost, especially compared to Integrated Service Digital Network (ISDN), cable television and satellite approaches. This approach also allows for a "just-in-time," asynchronous, demand oriented, two-way interactive, ancient Greek style small group mentor education system, rather than a Hollywood style, one-way, broadcasting, instructional television, mass education system.