In 1991, educators at the Curry School of Education at the University of Virginia began developing ideas for integrating telecommunications into the instructional practices of public school teachers using Virginia's Public Education Network. Teachers from across the state were invited to participate in a telecommunications project called the Electronic Academical Village, consisting of a variety of electronic resources developed for elementary, middle, and high school teachers. Teachers had the option of utilizing existing resources or initiating projects which corresponded to their curricular needs. During the first two years of the project, patterns of use emerged. Although the teachers had training, support, and access to equipment in their classrooms, some were not participating. Six individual case studies were developed based on teachers' levels of participation in telecommunications projects. Three had relatively high levels of participation, and three had low levels. Data from the individual cases of high and low users were compared using cross-case analysis. Findings indicated that teachers who were integrating telecommunications into their teaching practices valued the use of an interactive learning network; figured out how to use it instructionally; received support from other users; and had access to computer equipment at home. Circumstances and experiences that did not appear to impact on use were the number of computers in a school and the principal's level of knowledge and interest in telecommunications. (Contains 27 references.) (Author/JLB)