I call this immersion. Immersion is being unable to escape from the material. The material becomes part of you by its ever-presence. Although static Web pages can provide neither immersion nor interaction, the emerging Internet technologies may be capable of delivering materials that can engage remote learners and provide opportunities for contact with instructors and classmates. Certainly e-mail provides a low level of interaction and can be enhanced with graphical and speech inserts so that voice clips and pictures can be mailed.
Educational MOOs is a hot topic in distance learning.
CLAS has a large educational MOO at the Writing Project. With interactive Web pages students manipulate material directly over the Internet. Selman Hershfield, assistant professor of physics, has developed interactive, on-line physics lessons. We at CLAS are striving for quality education regardless of the location of the students and the instructor as we develop on-line material in a variety of disciplines. We are developing an on-line bachelor's degree in English.