As I read through the chapter on the technologies of online learning (Elliott and McGreal) I am encouraged by the advances discussed.  Most of the things that bother me about distance education thus far, are being addressed by new multimedia technologies.  Things like web conferencing, streaming audio and video, and metaverses, or online worlds, are bridging the gaps between f2f learning and DE.  The more instructors are able to recreate the physical learning environment, the smaller the gap, or distance, if you will, in education.  I am beginning to see where future generations of students will prefer the distance model, and those of us who started in f2f environments will just have to adjust.  I’m game.