Integrating multimedia into a distance learning environment: Is the game worth the candle?

An online learning environment (OLE) appears to be a setting in which multimedia enhancements could indeed provide noteworthy benefits. As a form of distance learning, the OLE offers a rather barren environment featuring limited student-to-teacher and student-to-student interaction, limited lecture capabilities, and severely restricted presentation capacity. Laurillard (1998, 1993), Daniels (1994), McCarthy (1997) and Riding and Grimley (1999) suggested various manners in which multimedia enhancements could be effectively used to differentially reinforce the various aspects of the teaching-learning process.