We believe that five dimensions are fundamental to E-learning: including broadband, wireless, real-time, interaction, and multimedia. What's more, web-based teaching should return to basics, on traditional real-time classroom, in our view, since it turns out to be effective in teaching and learning for decades. Classroom could provide much more reliable and interactive real-time multimedia teaching services, poviding teachers with more convenient facilities and students of easier access to real-time digital learning materials respectively.

The SJTU E-Learning Lab conducts leading edge researches to advance the science, technology and practice of flexible and interective learning and teaching in E-Learning area. The lab brings together researchers, engineenrs. Scholars and students of Computer Science and Engineering Department of Shanghai Jiaotong University to study how to build up an intelligent distance-learning environment based on Standard Natural Classroom(SNC), Multimedia Content Delivery, Information Retrieval and Data Mining technologies. The E-Learning Lab undertakes the mission of researching, designing and developing the unigue network education platform of Shanghai Jiao Tong University.

Established in 1995 as an independent center of excellence at Shanghai Jiaotong University, SJTU E-Learning Lab is housed in the sixth floor of HaoRan High-Technology Building, a state-of-the-art testing ground for technology applications in the SJTU. The lab conducts a lot of externally funded R&D projects ranging from national level (National Natural Science Foundation of China, Key 863 Program Projects and National Key Science and Technology Projects) to Shanghai Municipality-level (Shanghai Municipal Education Commission and Science and Technology Commission).

The quality of researches conducted by E-Learning lab have enjoyed reputations amony peers and recognition from industrial circles. The Lab has been funded by INTEL for 10 straight years. In 2004, it assisted MIT in holding MIT OCW2004 academic conference. In 2005, it won the fund from NSFC and BT. Still, it hosted NSFC-BT bilateral e-learning conference 2005. And now, it is to hold Distributed and Learning Conference 2006 sponsored by NSF. Furthermore, it has established extensive collaboration with leading research universities in Japan, US and UK.

The E-Learning Lab is open for suggestions and welcome cooperations!