Online Courses Need to Look Good to Be Good - Researchers at the University of British Columbia have concluded that to be effective, the appearance of an online course is as important as the content. "We paid attention to the feeling and tone of the course, not just the content and teaching processes," says one of the researchers. "It's like going into the supermarket - the food might look all right, but the music drives you crazy, so you leave." The study, "Best- and Worst-Dressed Web Courses: Strutting into the 21st Century in Comfort and Style," includes a "Madonna Award for Best-Dressed Course," which was granted to an American history course at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The researchers evaluated 127 courses using 43 criteria. For further information see: http://www.usq.edu.au/dec/decjourn/demain.htm(Chronicle of Higher Education 27 Feb 98)