Developing Interactive Course Web Sites for Distance Education and Characteristics of Students Enrolled in Distance Learning Courses

The ubiquity of the Internet has made disseminating information across geographical boundaries a relatively easy task. Apart from text-based materials, the Internet provides an easy means to transmit images, sound, video, and other multimedia content to a global audience, making it an ideal medium for establishing distance learning programs. Two Internet-based distance learning courses were developed to teach animal physiology to veterinary technicians in the School of Veterinary Medicine at Purdue University. These distance learning course sites are designed to take advantage of multimedia technology to enhance students’ learning experiences. Multimedia has been used in education to make the learning process more engaging and interactive. The two course sites have a number of multimedia features that complement the textual subject matter. This article describes the features of the course Web sites and summarizes our experiences in designing and conducting Web-based physiology courses to distance learners. In addition, we describe the characteristics of our distance learning students.