Travel around a learning support environment: rambling, orienteering or touring?

The traditionally separate application areas supported by database systems and instructional systems are merging in the area of learning support environments (LSEs). We discuss the provision of tools in LSEs for navigating around large knowledge bases. The optimal form of navigation will depend on the nature of the user and of the learning requirements, and thus a variety of tools must be provided. We propose the use of a travel holiday metaphor as a means for structuring a set of navigation tools and illustrate its use in a system for teaching non-formal fields of knowledge.