Students were required to have access to a personal computer (PC) and modem through which they received their course materials (i.e., core readings and multimedia presentations). The network linking the students' and instructors' PCs created, in effect, a virtual workgroup (Vigilante, 2000) through which students could communicate with their tutors and with other students through e-mail. The system supported staff-student discussions and case-study analyses, together with access to supportive guides and to a virtual cafe for informal discussion. A library database provided access to electronic copies of specially licensed books, articles, hypertexts and case studies, and to digital audio and video materials.

Students worked in-groups of four to five; the level of interaction was high: an average of some 200 discussions, analyses, questions and assignments per student in the 1999 program. A later course introduced digital video, which allowed students to draw down video from the central server over the ISDN network. The video, presented as a small 'poster' image, was used to present a demonstration, illustrate a process, present a simulated case study, or provide a graphic explanation of complex phenomena. Students could also conduct analyses from their PCs using software tools on the central server.

As can be seen, these approaches, each in their own way, adopt some of the processes of traditional university teaching. In the case of the University of Oulu, direct access to lectures by regular faculty, together with the facility to access resource materials and to interact with peers are aspects close to the experience of traditional students. The NTU approach provides an arrangement through which leading specialists in universities throughout the US can deliver lectures directly to students. The Virtual College at NYU is particularly interesting in that, from the outset it was perceived as the electronic equivalent of a traditional college. A particular strength of this approach is the potential to support interactive collaborative working,