Cf. Our PCEM2 Option Anglais médical Course 1999-2000 http://www.langues-vivantes.u-bordeaux2.fr/Interactive/P2Option.html

Cf. Interactive Exercises for students of Medicine, Odontology, Biology

The most commonly asserted advantages of distributed learning were summarised by Godwin Jones: A Practical guide to teaching with World Wide Web  http://tecfa.unige.ch/staf/staf-e/sun/staf14/ex6/summary.html)
- On-demand access to learning materials
- Integration of local and global resources
- Collaborative learning
- Up to Date information
- Multimedia presentation of content. 

Interactive activites on the internet offer students immediate results - often in the form of a tick or a cross. More importantly, some sort of feedback can also be offered in the form of a comment, or a clue ("No that's not quite right. Look more closely at ...") or a link to a source of information that will be helpful.

See also the section in these pages on Hot Potatoes.

Articles

Godwin-Jones, Bob, Emerging Technologies, Dynamic Web Page creation in Language Learning and Technology Vol 1, N° 2, January 1998, pp. 7-13. A catalogue of technologies used on LL sites eg. Java, Java Script, DHTML. http://polyglot.cal.msu.edu/llt/vol1num2/emerging/default.html

Nesi, H, Using the Internet to teach English for Academic Purposes, ReCALL 10:1 (1998) 109-117. 1993: Internal network on biggish campus at Warwick University. Students had different needs and different timetables so they set up an on-line self-access centre. There was a 12-month monitoring period (a network monitor checked visits 24 hours a day). They had 391 users who used the material at unexpected times but only stayed for an average of 15 minutes. It appeared that there was a broader range of users than in the face-to-face classes. This fragmented approach seemed to suggest that the students were treating language learning as a bit of light relief during other computer activities. Although teachers had tried to create coherence by grouping the exs together and creating categories, the exercises were all free standing and could be accessed in any order rather than in self-access pathways. It was clear that students needed greater guidance and more personalised support. In 1995 an EAP web site was created. The creators of the site hoped that the website would introduce learners to some of the conventions of the internet, e-mail communication etc. and provide a springboard to other web sites. Audio and video were not viable so they decided to concentrate on RC skills. (173 hits in October, then an average of 46 per month until Easter). The author concludes that the "self-access site has been reasonably successful"

"The internet encourages a more visual and non-linear form of literacy and is not the best medium for some study needs such as extensive linear reading of a single text. Web based materials are therefore limited in their scope and tend to be based around short texts with plenty of opportunities for learner intervention and interaction. Their creation requires rather different skills than those of the hard-copy materials writer, and we are still learning how to make the most of the medium. "Fortunately web-based materials are also organic, pages grow, or wither and die [....]"
 
 

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