The study of database systems is typically core in undergraduate and postgraduate programmes related to computer science and information systems. However, one component of this curriculum that many learners have diffi‑ culty with is database analysis and design, an area that is critical to the development of modern information systems. This paper proposes a set of principles for the design of a games‑based learning environment to help the learner develop the skills necessary to understand and perform database analysis and design effectively. The paper also presents some preliminary results on the use of this environment.

The Internet can be a useful tool that can enhance interactivity in classes. Accordingly, offering distance learning courses using the Web, especially in the asynchronous mode for the additional flexibility of time, is becoming an established practice in higher education. Web‑based distance learning comes with numerous benefits, but not without worries for potentials deficiencies. One such deficiency in the current distance learning framework is the lack of lecture, the most relied‑upon and proven means o f instruction in the traditional classroom settings. This paper raises an issue of the lack of lectures in Web‑based distance learning, and proposes that streaming video take the role of online lecture in that setting. Described in this paper are the rati onale to put the lecture back into e‑learning in higher education, two case studies in which the steps were taken to implement the proposed method, and the feedback from the students who took such courses in the undergraduate business curriculum and the M BA program.