The Internet has emerged as the incarnation of this learning environment. Web-based technology takes distance education in an unprecedented direction. Both synchronous and asynchronous communication exist in tandem. The tene of anarchy on which the Internet is grounded becomes the foundation of truly egalitarian learning. Both teaching and learning within the web environment have the potential to be non-linear.
Teaching is characterized by the process of facilitat ion and guidance.
Learning becomes the process of self-direction and collaboration. It is Socratic in its nature. At Dalhousie, web based education has been encapsulated in the adoption of a distributed learning environment called WebCT which was developed, and is maintained, by some marvelously maverick minds at the University of British Columbia. Students explore the materials that the instructor has housed on the course site, browse the appending and reference materials, and visit external sites of related interest to which the instructor directs them. Both asynchronously and synchronously, WebCT offers a variety of interactive communication methods.