A simple definition pinched from Wikipedia: In education, realia (pronunciation reel-ee-ah) are objects from real life used in classroom instruction by educators to improve students' understanding of other cultures and real life situations. Where we discuss the importance of delivery technologies in an online environment - and the goal of increasing the quality of media and increasing the level of interaction to increase learning - the use of realia in online course is a critical component. Striking at the heart of electronic page-turners (click, read, click Next), I think we must strive to incorporate as much realism and authenticity in online content as we can. The use of a cartoon narrator that reads the screen is a step (a small step); a video overlay of a credible human being doing the narrating is a larger, more effective step. Ultimately, the realia should be created and shared by the online students themselves, since that is likely to be a more effective method of: 1. focusing attention 2. stimulating memory encoding 3. increasing retention 4. interacting intellectually.