Through 2004, more than 50 percent of consumers will still access the Internet at slow dialup speeds. Many remote workers now rely on standard modems with connection speeds of 56 Kbps or slower. Higher production values, including streaming video, have to be managed carefully and leveraged. Most learning management systems, authoring tools, and industry standards are built around a slide-show quiz metaphor, and innovative content producers have difficulty tying into that restrictive environment. Push versus pull.
Classes tend to be assigned at a given time and place.
Though that makes them restrictive, it also forces users to attend. E-learning that's available anytime tends to be delayed or never done at all. Those barriers are showing signs of fading. E-learning will surely be the Internet's next killer app. Clark Aldrich is a senior market analyst with GartnerGroup, a Stamford, Connecticut-based market research firm.