RM> Yes, you can present the material on the home page and have 
RM> the student read it, but what then is the advantage over a book?
  
RM> For firing up interest, or catching someone's interest, a
RM> quick, flashy presentation is wonderful, but the nuts and
RM> bolts is still "old" stuff, and relies on the application
RM> of math and equations.  I can see that books are second
RM> best to 3-d video for descriptive science, but I see no
RM> advantage whatsoever for the understanding of scientific
RM> principles in general....
 
PS>Would it depend on where you get your information from?
I'm not sure how this relates?
PS> I don't understand why you want to limit a classroom to one book, 
PS> when one can go to the internet system and have your choice of many?
I thought we were discussing books vs. electronic media,
not books in print vs. books printed online??  Let me start
over again: 
1. Books are not obsolete, nor will they become obsolete.
   Books have survived "moving pictures", radio, and
   tv; they will survive the Internet as well.
   
2. Electronic media has some advantages over printed media
   in that there is potential for 3-d video, sound, etc.
   
3. A book in your hand differs little from a book printed on
   a computer monitor; if you have to read it and "turn the
   page", then it's a book.
   
4. The potential of online education, while there, is not
   too likely to be realized unless there is a way to make 
   a profit.  Incorporating all the neat things available 
   online is time-consuming and costly; it isn't going to
   happen without the promise of financial reward.
   
5. Even with the promise of financial reward, only a few
   sources will produce a truly high-quality product.       
PS> Not all scientific information is limited to NASA.  I believe 
PS> that there are a few other research institutions elsewhere?
One, or both of us, have lost track of the original point,
which I THOUGHT was the obsolescence of books due to the
emergence of intercomputer connectivity?  I'm not arguing
the use of connectivity as a learning tool; I'm arguing
the continued viability of the book as a learning tool...
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 * MR/2 2.26 * WINDOWS95?!?  Been there... Done that!
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