Download Delay and its Effects on Online Learning

Abstract

Download delay is the amount of time needed for instructional materials to appear on a Web page on the client computer after the page is accessed from the server; it is a new challenge specific to designing and using Internet-based materials (Davis & Hantula, 2001). Also known as “download time” in end-user computing literature, such delays are primarily a function of the size of the data files being transmitted from the server to the client and the technological limitations of the client and server computers and the network infrastructure. A file of the same size may download slowly or quickly on different client computers depending on capabilities of the hardware, speed of the network and connections, and relative efficiency in the design of programs and transfer protocols. In an Internet environment, download delay is usually a matter of seconds, often fractions of a second.