Simply stated, Web-based instruction refers to providing a learning environment that is mediated and supported via the Internet/Intranet and connected to a computer with hyperlinks to resources outside the instructional domain. The instruction is designed so that the computer displays lessons in response to learner/user interactions.

The instruction can be as simple as using the system as a "page turner" for information, to as complex as an integrated system which logs learner inputs and responses, provides interactions with video, animation, imagery, forms, examinations, or software. Not only can learning occur through interactions with the "materials" but through a community of learners using chat, threaded discussion, e-mail, whiteboards, or other programs such as "Netmeeting" or C-U-See-Me software which provide a combination of these environments. Read Donna Governor's excellent research on distance education.

One aspect of Web-based instruction is the incidental learning that frequently occurs. In a traditional "face-to-face" instructional environment, learning is considered to be intentional - there is usually very little incidental learning. Computers and the Web have changed this model of instruction; they allow learners to view, retrieve, and store information "any place, any time". As an example, following one the Gulf Stream links to learn more about this particular ocean current, students and teachers can follow subsequent links to learn about the physics of satellite imagery. What has occurred in this case, is that some of the learning has become incidental to the original instructional goal. This type of learning is wonderful, but must be planned for through the type of hyperlinks the instructor provides.

As teachers begin to develop web-based instructional components to their teaching strategies, they must keep the learning perspective in view - are the instructional strategies designed to train or to educate? Both strategies are designed to enhance knowledge, but one is specific and the other is general. One is like hunting (training) and the other is like fishing (education).

In hunting, one is after a specific target, you know the goal and you know when the goal has been achieved. However, in fishing, when you cast out your line, you have an idea as to what you hope to catch based upon location, type of bait used, techniques, and "luck," but you are never really sure as to what you will catch until it is hauled in (Berge, Z.L.,1999).