The second videoconference took place in February, led by three faculty members from Syracuse University and two faculty participants from Uppasla University. In addition, 15 students (eight from Syracuse and seven from Uppsala) participated. The second videoconference led off with a discussion on environmental concerns, especially as they related to cooperation and conflict. A number of issues were touched on, including chemical and nuclear weapons disposal, population growth and natural resource depletion, water scarcity, and indigenous conflict management approaches to natural resources. The underlying interest in all of these issues that gave hope for future collaboration between the two groups was the conflict caused between the local, national, and global levels in response to various efforts to address environmental issues. With this common ground established, the discussion moved to the topic of peacekeeping.

With this shift the pace and participation by the students picked up noticeably. While several issues were discussed, the conversation quickly focused on the movement away from global organizations toward regional organizations for peacekeeping operations. Many hypotheses were offered and debated to explain this important change in international relations. As the videoconference drew to a close, it was agreed that the Web-based text chat exercise would focus on peacekeeping.

Due to semester schedule differences between the two universities, the Web-based text chat could not be held until mid-April. After agreeing to a time that would take into account the six hour time difference, the text chat meeting was held in a virtual classroom, created by the AskERIC team at Syracuse University, that utilized collaborative software called The Palace. Using The Palace software, we were able to have a virtual classroom, complete with a whiteboard and the ability to stream Real Media. One of the advantages of using The Palace was it allowed the participants to use avatars to represent themselves in the classroom. In this case, we digitized a head-and-shoulders picture of each participant to "wear" on screen during the text chat. The text chat session lasted approximately one hour and focused on the role of the United Nations in peacekeeping operations. The event closed with a call to look into possibilities for faculty and student exchanges.

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