Along with its theoretical foundation, the support for NetMath stems from two pilot research efforts with which I have been involved. The following section of this chapter describes a taxonomy of video in instruction and its relation to knowledge objectives, aesthetic development and technological determinants. Based on the work of Bruce and Levin (1997), this taxonomy attempts to classify both the technical as well as the educational dimensions of video. By understanding these dimensions, it seemed possible to develop a network project which was both technological feasible and educationally effective. In addition, while developing this taxonomy I combined the work of Bloom (1956) and the work of Housen (1992) in an attempt to show how knowledge objectives when considered along side aesthetic development increases the educational impact video has on learning.

The last section of this chapter is an evaluation I conducted of a K-12 digital video testbed initiative supported by the National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA). As a result of the taxonomy, I wanted to pursue the actualization of digital video and the Internet as a learning tool. This digital video testbed was my opportunity to work with teachers as they constructed World Wide Web (WWW) pages that integrated digital video. These teachers were creating their own network projects for use during instruction. What I learned while researching and creating the taxonomy and what I learned from my involvement with and evaluation of the digital video testbed helped pave the way for my realization of NetMath as a network project that considered not only the collection of Web pages, but also the process involved with creating them.