“A lot of the knowledge conveyed in classes is only of use to [students] for future activities, and therefore one can not rely on simple ‘natural curiosity’ to move them along. Motivation (or ‘wanting’ as it is sometime described) can be achieved when using computer-aided learning by impressing on the students how the course is increasing their learning, what it is adding to their intellectual armoury, and how the course ties together. Furthermore it can be achieved by making the course enjoyable. Multimedia elements can be included in Web pages, discussions can be opened up by the Internet to bring in global audiences (thus allowing students to share experiences with colleagues elsewhere), and so on.”

“Guide to Online Teaching: Existing Tools & Projects.” Stuart Lee, Paul Groves, Christopher Stephens, and Susan Armitage. JTAP Reports. The entire article is available at http://www.jtap.ac.uk/reports/htm/jtap-028.html; clicking on this link will open a new browser window, which you should close to return to the main page.