Professional development, collaborative problem-solving, and peer support are the "lifeblood" of any profession, including school psychology. Time and distance conspire against their health. The Internet holds considerable promise for overcoming these barriers to professional development and collaboration. Indeed, one of the most widely cited advantages of e-mail is the ability to converse, learn, and exchange information without the need to coordinate when and where the communication occurs.

This liberating aspect of the Internet can be a potential boon to school psychologists who are often trapped by school schedules that allow them little time to collaborate with colleagues and advance their knowledge. Social support is particularly important for many school psychologists, whose work is often characterized by isolation from other school psychologists. Many school psychologists receive infrequent and inadequate feedback about their work. Some receive virtually no professional supervision, and others receive supervision from individuals who know little about school psychology. These inadequacies can hinder their work and professional functioning. Although the Network does not provide supervision, the participants have opportunities to give and receive feedback from their peers.

School psychologists are uniquely well-suited to meet these professional needs by means of a computer network because of their training in collaborative problem-solving, interpersonal skills, and group dynamics. Indeed, consultation is one of the major responsibilities of school psychologists. Our assumption is that there never will be sufficient time for face-to-face collaborative problem-solving, peer support, and professional development. In this regard, computer networks are viewed as complementing ongoing collaborative and professional development efforts.