ABSTRACT
The author draws on the Open University's (OU) extensive experience of tutoring online in a review of conferencing networks in two contrasting higher education courses, one at entry level, and the other at post-graduate level. While we are not at the point where we can expect undergraduate students to be experienced online learners before they start a course, we are approaching this on post-graduate courses. There are three areas of development that currently preoccupy OU staff involved in online teaching: collaborative small group activities, real-time events online and innovative online assessment. One of the outcomes of the event was that a real-time chat system was designed and added to the facilities of the course, and it continues to be used by students on occasions for social and semi course-related issues. Marks are not given for the collaborative product but for the students' analysis of the effectiveness of group work.
