Internet-based Learning & Training as a Challenge for Universities

With the emerging accessibility of the Internet and the World Wide Web, this new medium has been discovered as a powerful dissemination channel for various purposes. On our evolution towards the Information Society and as an effect of the ongoing globalization, the Internet is becoming a key factor in the area of education, either. In the past years, many projects have tried and indeed are still trying to usse the Internet as an environment for educational purposes, especially for distance learning. Firstly, the paper describes different aspects and implications, that the emerge of the Internet and the WWW might ore more likely will have on the future of higher education. Secondly, the conceptual foundation for a future Internet-based learning and teaching environment is presented and the realization and the achievements of the project IDEALS are introduced. Finally, the attempt of formulating recommendations based on our experience for a successful establishing of Internet based learn ing at Institutes of Higher Education is done.