Extending the Reach of the Classroom with Web-Based Programs

Abstract

Today's Web-based course management programs offer ways to reduce the amount of time teachers spend on clerical duties, repetitive tasks, and record keeping. They blend text, images, audio, and video into a unique instructional medium and make it available to students wherever they have access to the Internet, twenty-four hours a day and seven days a week. With proper training and rewards for teachers, these programs can become tools for addressing the pressing problems of growing numbers of students and classes in a time of shrinking numbers of qualified language teachers.