Streaming media refers to content that is played chunk by chunk over the internet without requiring the viewer to download the entire file.
For example, a PSD photoshop file must be fully downloaded before viewing, however, a podcast or YouTube video can be started and consumed just by downloading a little bit of data. Then as the student watches more video, the video player downloads the next few seconds of audio and video bytes.
Students expect modern learning management systems (e.g., thinkific ) to support streaming courses.