After providing examples of the use of computer-mediated communications networks such as Kids Network, Project INSITE, and Project Earth Lab to create real-world contexts for student learning, this paper notes that teacher learning and collaboration has been a secondary issue. It is argued that the urgency of such national efforts as school restructuring and pedagogical reform, combined with increasing accessibility of computer-based communications, creates both the need and the opportunity for research on teacher collaborations via networks. Theoretical and practical approaches to this research are outlined. The most effective networks, it is noted, are likely to be those that are designed to support a shared vision of the collaborative social and organizational reality desired by and for teachers and educational communities. (20 references) (GL)