The Web can do many things. It does some things better than others.

Some instructional strategies are easy to implement on the Web . Originally created as a document system, the Web is particularly suited for presentations that rely on text and/or graphics.

Some are more difficult. The Web can carry video, but video is bandwidth-intensive and slow. Virtual reality simulations can provide unique experiences to otherwise inaccessible content (like the topography of the atom, or the wreck of the Titanic), but they are technologically complex and typically require specialized programming talent you may not possess.

And some instructional strategies are downright impossible today. No one has figured out, for example, how to create tactile or olfactory experiences via the Internet.

Use it for What It's Good for
McManus (1995) points out that as a document system, the Web 's specific strengths support instruction in intellectual skills -- particularly verbal skills. And Hewson and Hughes (1997) cite instances where the Web does better than a book could in structuring and presenting large volumes of data on an as-needed basis. There are also times when a "second-best" medium becomes the medium of choice. The Web is less expensive than broadcast for conveying motion through animation (and better than a book ), and less expensive than the telephone for engaging learners who are widely scattered or whose schedules conflict.

The Web is a hypertext medium. Perhaps its most distinctive feature as an instructional medium is its support for multiple pathways through information. This feature enables you to provide supplementary materials on an as-needed basis. It allows users to follow different routes through the content, depending on their own learning styles and abilitites or the particular practice you wish them to follow at each phase in the lesson.

Focus on Benefits, not Barriers
Hewson and Hughes (1997) advise you to use the Web for what it is good for, but not to limit yourself to what the Web can support:

"If an activity makes sense and would be useful," they say, "and you cannot think of how it might be supported on the Web, include it and find another way of supporting it."