Companies such as ParaLogic provide web based chat rooms at no cost. Finally, another way to involve students using a web site is to developing a network of email mentors. Chances are you know other instructors and professionals working in your discipline who would agree to answer questions from students. By posting these email address on your web site and inviting your students to tap these resources you give them access to a whole new universe of information. There are many situations where pictures work better than words.
Web sites are wonderful locations for storing visual information for students to access.
Many classes are build around showing slides to students. In a biology class for example, a slide lecture explaining how different parts of the brain work is one way of providing information to students. Allowing students to view images of the brain on a web site and click on different brain areas to find out what they do can greatly reinforce the classroom experience. Other, more complex ways of describing space can also be incorporated into web sites. Professor Ann Marshall of the University of Idaho is using QuickTime VR to give her landscape architecture students a feel for the southwest and the Anasazi structures near Chaco Canyon.