Distance courses, programs, and meetings that are effectively designed and
managed can bring together local, national, and international networks of people for
learning, dialoging, and receiving the latest in information. This can be accomplished via a
wide spectrum of technologies, sometimes used singly and sometimes blended with other
technologies.

So far in this series of effective practices, we've looked at the use of: 1) the web, to teach
the process of designing successful computer-skills classes; 2) audio and video streaming,
to bring rich examples of music into the classroom and to send those resources via distance
technologies to learners at remote sites; and 3) videoconferencing, to bring the Wisconsin
city of Milwaukee's courtrooms intto the middle school classroom.

This month, in the fourth of our series, UW-Extension's Small Business Development
Center (SBDC) staff describe the dynamic use of webconferencing by their director,
Erica Kauten. Erica uses the tools of webconferencing in many ways: to meet with
local governments and citizens statewide and nationally, to market and implement
surveys and assessments, and to share SBDC "entrepreneurship" information and
expertise while, at the same time, gaining valuable information from her participants.
Through training and practice, Erica has become very comfortable with using
webconferencing and continues to think of new uses to save her participants time,
travel, and dollars. (Rosemary Lehman)