Development of the "Web-Com" interactive browser for Web-based class

The authors introduce a newly developed Web-based education system. The developed system supports both the synchronous learning and the asynchronous learning. The system consists of the interactive Web browser called "Web-Com" and the voice server. The Web-Com provides with the multilayer canvas and the user can draw annotations on the layer. Each layer can be shared with other user in real-time, via the network, to be utilized for the synchronous learning. In conjunction with the voice server, the Web-Com can support the communication by human voice. The Web-Com also supports the function that can replay the process of annotations in their order, which enables the asynchronous learning. Finally, a subject experiment is performed to examine the validity of the system. The result of the experiment shows that the user can learn interactively in the Web-based class by using the Web-Com.