The most recent educational innovation to capture widespread attention derives from the linking of rapidly maturing informational technologies to the renewed interest in how, when, and why people learn. Technically defined as electronically mediated instruction, but dubbed "e-learning" to mark its place within the larger e-commerce revolution, e-learning was the educational innovation that garnered the largest institutional investments--investments that came with the expectation of exponential returns in educational capacity and instructional revenue.Among the claims made to support e-learning investments, three are worth specific note. First and probably foremost, the marriage of new technologies and newly accepted learning theories promised a revolution in pedagogy itself, a shift toward customized, self-paced, and problem-based education. E-learning's second promise was to usher in a distance learning boom (particularly in adult continuing education), derived from its ability to be delivered any time and any place with a connection to the Internet. The third--and in many ways most radical promise--was that the market would provide the necessary funds for e-learning to live up to its full potential: first, in the form of substantial venture capital to launch a panoply of products