In this paper, we describe a distance learning system that would allow resource-starved village schools in rural India to benefit from the better human and content resources available in the urban environments. The e-learning landscape is littered with misguided and expensive ``wire-the-schools'' projects that have little to show for in the end. To avoid retracing these missteps, we must follow at least two important principles in our solution: (1) cost realism, which is essential if we were to scale up the system to encompass a large number of villages, schools, and students in the long run; and (2) building systems that solve end-to-end education problems, instead of narrowly focusing on just providing connectivity.

The proposed Digital StudyHall system has the following novel key components. The first is a generic digital communication mechanism that places bits on storage media transported by the postal system instead of wires. This mechanism, the ``Postmanet,'' provides pervasive, high-bandwidth, and low-cost asynchronous connectivity to just about any place. When combined with a low-latency channel, such as a packet radio connection, we may combine the latency and bandwidth advantages of both channels. Robotic arm-based automation in our headquarters site further enhances transparency and efficiency. The second is a mechanism that turns regular TV screens into ``networked thin client displays.'' This mechanism, which we call ``EdTV,'' lowers the cost of end user devices, and truly bridges the last mile by leveraging TV and radio control signals. The third is a web repository that collects education content, and connects learners and teaching staff across time and space, so staff in urban schools and volunteers (potentially from overseas) can contribute in a way that allows them to make flexible time and location commitments. This site, dubbed the ``learning eBay,'' would be accessible via both conventional networks and the Postmanet. These components would enable a wide variety of digital education ``workflows,'' such as lecture capture and replay, homework collection and feedback, and question-answer sessions. We also plan to perform pedagogy research on the Digital StudyHall, so that it can serve as an effective learning science testbed, tightly combining education research and practice.