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A brief examination of the evolution of virtual reality devices illustrates how the development of this new medium is influenced not only by emerging technologies but also by marketing pressures. In a situation parallel to that of the earliest computers, both military and game applications seem to be the driving forces in virtual reality development. Understanding these influences may help us prepare for the role of technical communica-tors in building virtual reality applications for education and industry and aid us in pre-dicting and influencing both the technology and the ways we prepare communicators for the future.

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The E-Language Learning (ELL) project is an ongoing collaborative effort between the US Department of Education and the Chinese (PRC) Ministry of Education. Its purpose is to develop a free, online language-learning opportunity for students in the two countries. Developers in the US are now in the process of creating a program to teach English to the Chinese, while the Chinese are simultaneously developing a program to teach Chinese to English speakers. The authors, who served as the English language development team for the US in the initial stage, describe the curriculum development process for the program, addressing issues in meeting the challenges of developing oral/aural proficiency in language using an online platform. These include making limited use of voice recognition technology for assessment, integrating cultural elements for the targeted audience, developing a program with optimal learning potential, and making the best possible use of technology that is both technically and financially feasible. The authors also include descriptions of clarifying learning goals and curriculum and providing means to track both in order to provide direction for program development, making careful research-based decisions to inform development, and providing careful and ongoing collaboration between technicians, content developers, and language educators.