This report highlights trends that have emerged from the evaluation of 100 online collaborative tools in this series of reports so far (2001-03). Emphasis is placed upon the special requirements of distance education (DE) users of collaborative tools, in the selection of online text/ audio/ video-conferencing, polling and whiteboard methods, and integrated course delivery systems combining all of these features. The technical and didactic skills for using collaborative tools effectively are illustrated in relation to a standard freeware for online audio-conferencing.