October 6, 2000

Virtual Reality on a Desktop Hailed as New Tool in Distance Education

By JEFFREY R. YOUNG

The gamelike technology spurs interaction, but can students really learn from it?

Margaret Corbit hovers in midair above Cornell University's virtual science museum, and she beckons you to follow her into the clouds.

Stepping off a catwalk is a leap of faith, but Ms. Corbit reminds you that here, in a virtual-reality environment on the Internet, the laws of physics need not apply. "I don't have gravity turned on in my world," she says, flying off toward