This second edition of a collection of papers, primarily from the United Kingdom, focuses on the variety of issues emerging from the adoption of asynchronous computer mediated communication (CMC) in higher education. This collection is targeted most directly at instructional designers and at software developers who write the code that drives these collaborative spaces, but it would be an interesting reading for any administrator or faculty member concerned with the introduction and development of asynchronous communications at their institution. This collection would, and perhaps should, become the kind of reading one might expect to be asked to peruse while sitting on the ubiquitous “New Technologies and the University” committee. While some of the articles are more technologically oriented than others, the collection itself speaks to a variety of points of view and levels of computer familiarity. As is common in this field, the collection leads with two articles that address administrative concerns. The remaining 14 articles address concrete interface and system development issues and pedagogic concerns.

“Collaborative Interactions in support of Learning: Models, Metaphors and Management” could serve as a good starting point for discussion, since it coherently lays out the reasons for thinking coherently about the transferring of education from the real to the virtual, using a real world example of the implementation of HyperCourseware. The conclusion that learning interfaces must be at the service of learning needs is one that continues to be timely and important.

Chapters 10, 12, and 13 are particularly noteworthy for their discussion of the software development process, as it is in real life on a campus, and as it should be. Taken together, these three articles discuss the development issues involved in building software suitable to the specific needs of university teachers. “Design for Motivation” is a thoughtful examination of development issues from a pedagogic perspective, which concludes with the recognition of the centrality of the emotional reality of learning, and with acknowledgement of how this might contribute to the development of a more student-centered e-learning space.

It is interesting to note the varieties of interfaces in development, especially since WebCt and Blackboard may appear to some readers to be dominating the market. CoMentor (discussed in chapter 7), for example, is an interesting and provocative alternative for those teaching the humanities. Lotus Notes is still a viable option for the business departments, and French and Swiss universities are sponsoring the development of Le Campus Virtuel (chapter 15). The description and discussion of eClass (chapter 6) suggests that collaboration between software engineers and professors can yield significant value if strategically planned and adequately supported. Indeed, the essential theme of all of the papers is the problem of time and resources in the development process, which appears to be somewhat diff erent from the business model, in as much as users are ever changing, and often unresponsive to user surveys. This collection would therefore be highly recommended reading for any developer moving from business products to learning products.

Another noteworthy element is the discussion concerning structuring metadata schemas (chapters 10, 14, and 15). Metadata schemas are essential components for structuring a mass of digital information, and their usability remains an important challenge. The single most important conclusion to be drawn from “Educational Metadata: Friendly Fire?” is that instructional material is accessed slightly differently than other kinds of information, mostly since it is accessed from within a developed and evolving lesson plan. Finding the right access paths (“right” defined as useable from the instructor’s point of view) is a difficult and sometimes daunting task, requiring many hours of user study and evaluation.

What is strikingly absent from this collection is any discussion of off task activities, and how these should be created and thought through from the programming perspective. Coding and developing for any learning space should take into consideration the fact that much collaboration and learning takes place in “off task” moments: smiles of complicity across a lecture hall, a companionable walk across the campus, or hockey talk around the water cooler. This kind of “idle” chatter is often the glue that holds universities together, and it is strangely absent from this collection, as if programmers will solve the problem tangentially even if they didn’t realize the problem existed in the first place. What is especially troubling in this regard is the absence of any recognition that in universities there are what we used to refer to as student bodies: coherent collectives putting forward alternative viewpoints on campus. Translating this student force into the digital university has not yet been an important consideration; clearly technical issues still dominate the field. Nevertheless, it is an interesting silence, given that while faculty concerns and administrator’s agendas are clearly being met, the issues around the creation of a virtual student body remain to be charted.