In the 20th century, people came to higher educational institutions for information and knowledge. In the 21st century, information and knowledge will go to people without any geographic limitation. Students from South Africa, the United States, and Hong Kong can all register in the same course offered by Britain's Open University or American Duke University's MBA program. These programs offer asynchronous education, a logical response to the need for learning-on-demand without limitation of time and place.

While geographic limitation was a strong reason for each institution to attract many local students in the past, continuous advancement in computer and communication technologies is supporting the growth of asynchronous educational programs. Presently, more than 800 institutions in the United States, all competing for students not only from local and national levels, but also from around the world, offer Cyber-education. Traditional campuses will continue to attract students, but even on-campus students will demand some asynchronous learning activities and courses in their schedules. Asynchronous education simply coincides well with demands of the market and load of life of most learners.

Ball State University developed an infrastructure that facilitates the development of online education not only for the citizens of the State of Indiana, but also for learners in national and global arena. University Computing Services, Teleplex, and University Libraries are ready to help faculty members with their training, technology, and development needs for online education. Successful distance education programs involve interactivities not only between teacher and students, and between students, but also provide learning resources that support hands-on and learning-while-doing methodology. The experienced staff members of UCS are ready to help in the development of interactive multimedia online resources. Some of the service provided by UCS are::

• Developing database for storing and retrieving digital web-based resources;
• Developing interactive and dynamic online resources with CGI programming;
• Integrating different technologies in order to support effective pedagogical practice;
• Providing needed consultation about possibilities of technology for the value added pedagogical advantages in teaching/learning;
• Participating in team-based development activities with members from Library, Teleplex, and academic departments;
• Providing needed package training and workshop in distance education technology and resources development for faculty members at BSU; and
• Providing support for the conversion of theories to computer applications, events to case studies, models to simulations, concepts to demonstrations, and knowledge bases to intelligent systems.