ABSTRACT
Introduction There" is a significant difference, particularly for children, between communicating synchronously, in 'real time' as one does when making a telephone conversation, and asynchronously, as happens when you exchange letters with a friend-In the first case you need to think quickly and be able to respond instantly to changes of direction, in the later case you have time to consider your response and research any subject which you are unsure of. The vast majority of computer-aided communications which occur in schools have been of the asynchronous type, mainly through text-based email exchange-With the availability of much faster computers and lines of communication at an affordable price, schools are starting to explore the possibilities of synchronous collaboration.
