Due to the recency of the Internet and the WWW as vehicles for instruction, the literature base is very thin. We are just beginning to see the evolution of web-based instruction as a pedagogy. To a large extent the focus is on development of this instruction in response to the demand for online courses and degrees. Unfortunately, this means that evaluation and research are delayed. What we are seeing is evidence of the potential that online instruction offers higher education and K-12 education. This is reflected in the virtual university movement, the forming of consortia among traditional universities to offer online degrees, as well as in the growth in the number of courses being offered, the popularity of national conferences on higher education applications of online instruction, and the fact that the issues are being addressed by governing boards. At the K-12 level schools are beginning to offer professional development programs online, online courses are being developed, and teachers are creating learning experiences which engage students in the use of the Internet and the WWW.

There is much speculation about the impact that the Internet and the WWW will have on higher education as we know it. In a State of the University Address, Gerhard Casper, president of Stanford University stated, "The Internet will make it unnecessary for students to travel long distances," and software producers "may well become competitors of universities." Similarly, in responding to the question, "What factors and forces may have the most profound effect on the future of the university?" the provosts of the prestigious Association of American Universities (AAU) ranked the virtual learning environment-not just time and place, but institutional-as the number one force in impacting the university in the future. Similarly, in writing about the future of distance education, Chute, Hancock and Balthazar (1997; http://www.lucent.com/cedl/distance.html) claimed that "The call will be for innovative technological systems that can reach great numbers of people with vast amounts of information under a variety of conditions. A 'just-in-time' approach will enable the delivery of critical information where and when it's needed in just the amounts needed." Along the same lines, Peter Drucker, in a discussion of the implications of telecommunications for the instructional role of universities noted, "Thirty years from now the big university campuses will be relics. Universities won't survive. It's as large a change as when we got the printed book."

These comments all underscore the changing paradigm in how education may be delivered in the future. That is, the electronic revolution is quickly bringing equity in accessibility to higher education. The Internet and the World Wide Web (WWW) have created opportunities for institutions of higher education to design and deliver quality instruction to students at times and places that are convenient to learners. The concept of "just-in-time" instruction is now a reality. In particular, employed professionals who wish to pursue further studies are no longer required to structure their lives around the scheduled offerings of universities or staff development workshops. Industry is now able to train its workforce worldwide through instruction delivered from a single site or orchestrated from multiple sites through electronic transmission systems.

Some of the nations' preeminent institutions of higher education such as Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology now conduct classes using the Internet. Other universities that offer degrees that can be completed online include Colorado State University, Michigan State University, Duke University, University of Maryland (the list goes on). The University of Pheonix, a virtual university, reports enrollment increases unprecedented among traditional universities. The Western Governors Virtual University (WGU), a consortium of western universities, has dedicated its mission to providing higher education solely through the Internet. WGU will grant the degrees, but the courses will be taken online from member institutions. The State University System of California has made a major investment in creating opportunities for students to earn degrees online.

With the implementation of Internet-based virtual teaching, many pressing issues have emerged. Issues regarding the value of online instruction continue to be debated. Skeptics quote "The No Significant Difference Phenomenon " by Tom Russell of North Carolina State University. Russell compiled a large bibliography of research that demonstrated there was no significant difference regardless of the media used for learning. 1 Proponents of online education quote a study by Jerald G. Schutte of California State University who found that his virtual class scored an average of 20% better than students in his traditional class. 2 Meyen, Lian and Tangen (in press evaluated the perceptions of graduate students completing two fully online courses and compared their responses to the responses of students enrolled in traditional graduate courses and courses supported with web-based resources on ten evaluative items. The instrument used was the campus-wide instrument for evaluating traditional courses. The mean ratings on all comparisons across the groups favored the online courses except for two where the differences were not statistically significant. The items included the following:

1. Has command of subject.


2. Successfully communicates subject matter.


3. Availability of professor to students.


4. Is sensitive to the responses of the class.


5. Assignments are pertinent and helpful in learning subject.


6. Provides critiques of student work.


7. Is fair.


8. Overall, (s)he is an effective teacher.


9. Objectives and methods are clearly explained.


10. Overall, course goals and objectives are achieved.

Meyen et al. also conducted focus group sessions to ascertain the features valued most by students. Among the highest valued features were flexibility and the personal interaction with the instructor.

A number of pedagogical questions are beginning to receive attention by researchers. Examples include communication between students and instructors via e-mail and the management of student work. The amount of communication between students and instructors in online instruction is a function of the instructional design; activities requiring responses can be designed into online courses. The other dimension is the quality and perceived meaningfulness of the communication. Donovan, (1995) has conducted research in this area. Kearsley, Lynch, Wizer, (1995) have examined the implications of online instruction for students with limited English and/or disabilities.

While many of these issues continue to be debated about the formulation of standards, institutions, as well as government and industries have lunged forward to focus "their energy and resources towards the development of a new family of advanced applications to meet emerging academic requirements in research, teaching and learning." 5 A major concern among institutions of higher education is the overcrowding on the Internet and the potential for the conditions essential to effective online instruction to deteriorate. One response of research institutions has been the conceptualization of Internet 2. Internet 2 consists of more than 130 universities and industries committed to building faster computer networks and better network tools for researchers, scholars and students. The network, "Abilene" is expected to transmit the entire Encyclopaedia Britannica in one second.

Achieving new applications that take advantage of the broad bandwidth and speed that is stable will require further research, the dissemination of research, and implementation of research findings.

As experience is gained in the development and delivery of online instruction, we can anticipate more attention being given to research. Certainly we can expect more emphasis on the formative evaluation of online instruction. To date there has been too much reliance on the research literature in distance education. Online instruction differs significantly from distance education instruction. It is more of a pedagogy than a delivery system. As it comes to be viewed as a form of pedagogy it will attract the interest of those who research learning and pedagogy.