Posted Janary 2005 Educational frontiers in cyberspace
		Deb Robins Teacher-Librarian Trinity Beach State School Year 7 students in north Queensland schools have connected online with one of their favourite authors, Alan Tucker.

Deborah Robins, Teacher-Librarian at Trinity Beach State School in north Queensland, wanted to put students in contact with authors. But there aren't many author visits to the far north.

Alan TuckerAn opportunity arose when Alan Tucker, author/illustrator of Too Many Captain Cooks and four other multi-award-winning books for children, went online during the 2004 Ipswich Online Literature Festival. Deborah used the Learning Place's chat room facility to set up a chat session between Alan and students from three schools.

On the day, students from each school greeted Alan and told him about their schools. Then the chat began. Students were so enthusiastic they tended to forget their designated roles (one typing, one checking to see that their next question hadn't already been asked, and one scanning the chat transcript for Alan's answers) – and just went for it!

Alan was kept busy messaging his responses. He talked about his books on Australian history and told students that to understand the present required an informed knowledge of the past.

Students gained a deeper knowledge of one of their favourite authors, and insights into how an author researches and writes.

Alan advised more student research before a chat session. He said many questions could have been answered by looking at his website, leaving more time for other, in-depth questions.

Deborah believes that chatting to literary figures "gives us windows into their worlds – a way of networking across homelands and beyond frontiers ".