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Teleconferencing as an educational tool "has possibilities for isolated areas such as reserves," according to Christine Nelson of Athabasca University's central office.

Teleconferenceing is already part of Athabasca University's method of course delivery. Although it was not designed with Native education in mind, it has been used at the Sunrise Project in Slave Lake and in other Native locations.

It involves simply the conference call, and in this case the conference call includes on seminar leader and approximately ten or more students, usually in more than one (and possibility up to 35) locations across Alberta. The seminar leader has usually given the students a 30-minute briefing prior to the first teleconference to orient them to the procedures. Course handouts are distributed by mail in advance of the conference call.

Teleconferencing has had mixed reviews as an educational method. Some students find it difficult to sit through a two hour "class" once a week for one or two semesters. The problem, explains Athabasca University's Nelson, is that without the benefit of the eye contact and body language of a real live instructor, the student has a harder time concentrating for the duration of the class.

Perhaps in the future this problem will be solved by adding a visual component by way of a video camera to portray the instructor on a screen, thus making the procedure more interactive.

Darlene Lamouche, of the Sunrise Project, notes that courses such as Psychology 290 and Women's Studies 343 have been available to Slave Lake Natives via teleconference. She says that although students who have done only individual home study courses have welcomed the teleconference, others who have had more experience in face-to-face instruction have relatively negative impressions of teleconferencing.

Nelson comments that no one has yet had enough experience with this technology in Native settings, and that the future will likely present more possibilities.