Gifted students have been provided the opportunity to study three core subjects through an academically selective virtual high school in western NSW, Australia. At the same time these students continue to attend their local public high school for their other subjects. This article presents the mechanisms that have provided this opportunity, and describes successes and challenges. Students are located across 385,000 km² and meet online through web conferencing to engage in real time. They are also able asynchronously to access study materials in an online repository.

This article explores digital learner presence in various higher education degrees in a regional institution in NSW, Australia. Several tools used for online teaching are explored through individual research projects in relation to the learner's presence with the tool being used. It was found that a variety of online teaching tools provided student presence and were effective for learning. Blogs, discussion boards, wikis and 3D virtual worlds were used to engage students in their learning. Herewith, the authors point out those that are more successful than others.