An online professional development course, Telecommunications and Information Access, offers educators the opportunity to earn graduate credit, learn about an emerging technological field, and interact using a telecommunication network. This independent study course offered by the University of Oregon and the International Society for Technology in Education is designed to introduce educators to current classroom and personal uses of computer mediated communication (CMC), databases, and distance learning. Offered entirely online, the course uses the information technologies being studied, including electronic mail, computer conferencing, remote database searching, and information about distance education by satellite. Students reported positive response to the course and the technology as an effective way to learn material otherwise unavailable to them. They were pleased with the immediate feedback for their lessons. However, they expressed concerns about costs, technical difficulties, and general lack of support for implementation for telecommunications in education. (9 references) (Author/BBM)