We've been using the Marratech desktop video conferencing programme for just over a year now. The fact that you don't need much in terms of equipment in order to be able to use it (and the programme's general user-friendliness) has had great effects for us. Last spring, for example, we were able to hook up a teacher from a university in Alabama to a video conference running at 15 sites all over the south of Sweden so that my students could interact with someone who really knew the American novel they were studying inside out. We paid him our going rate of 25 euros/hour too (I think it's important not to rely on unpaid enthusiasts!).

Last autumn I started a system whereby students studying from home or via study centres all over the south of Sweden (an area about the size of England) could link up to me in between studio video conferences to ask follow-up questions. For me it meant 30-45 minutes one evening at home every couple of weeks, but for them it meant that they felt they had access to their teacher and that they weren't entirely on their own. As you would expect, the fact that they *could* ask questions meant that they increasingly didn't need to, so my job became more and more concentrated on the areas where my skills and knowledge were really needed.