VIRTUAL CLASSROOMS AND INTERACTIVE REMOTE INSTRUCTION

Through the integration of high speed computer networks and interactiv e multimedia workstations, the IRI (Interactive Remote Instruction) sy stem creates a geographically dispersed virtual classroom. Each studen t participates in a lesson using a personal workstation which can be u sed to view multimedia lectures, to make presentations, to take notes in a multimedia notebook and to interact via audio/video and shared co mputer tools. We compare this approach with other modes of instruction and describe lessons learned from the instructor, student and technic al perspectives.