Recent advances in telecommunications and network technology, increasing demand for continuing education for industry professionals, and the general mobility and geographic distribution of the population are forcing major changes in both synchronous and asynchronous graduate education. This paper describes the author's experience in teaching a large section of a graduate-level computer engineering course with synchronous lectures to nine locations in Virginia and the numerous supporting

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... ms utilized for communications among students and with the instructor. Results of a survey conducted with all students in the class are analyzed here. We focus on students' experiences with working on a collaborative group research project involving group members in multiple locations. The author concludes that there is value in providing strong encouragement for student involvement across geographies; however, this is a process that will not typically occur naturally, so it requires both careful planning from the instructor and the appropriate set of tools to make active collaboration possible.