The software provides compressed motion video in black and white. It is received at each site through a small video camera mounted on top of the Macintosh desktop computer. Classes are conducted over a distance of approximately 5,000 kilometers in real time with only a few seconds delay in transmission time. Adds Maritime, Central and Western perspectives to discussions and case studies and forces students to think beyond their regional experiences and frameworks. Every course is evaluated at its conclusion.
Most students give the courses high ratings.
However with only small numbers of students involved it is not easy to get a large enough sample to do significant empirical studies on each course. Because the delivery method involves many unknowns, what works in the classroom often needs to be rethought and presented differently. One important aspect of teaching on the Internet is the need to change the delivery pace and to alter its direction. A canned presentation is a recipe for disaster. It is important to be spontaneous and to be skillful at improvising, and to make interruptions in what is usually structured, prescribed and predictable.