A study of teachers in the United Kingdom's Open University who used a computer mediated communications system called Cosy in 1988 was conducted to document their experiences with and attitudes toward the system. The results of interviews and analysis of log sheets revealed that: (1) the sample of teachers (n=10) showed a range in usage of the Cosy system from low to high, consistent with the expected range of use in the population as a whole; (2) all but 30% of the teachers reached the expected 20 hours a week online use; (3) teacher usage of the system decreased during the first year as extensive browsing gave way to developing more efficient ways for using the system; (4) the system was used for electronic mail, teleconferencing, and general conversation purposes; (5) factors affecting student usage included cost, workload, difficulties using the software, and disappointment with the conference results; (6) electronic mail and telephone usage were more popular than conferencing, but none of the three was as popular as the more traditional face to face exchange; and (7) typical of most innovations, those who had difficulty with the system used it less and were less enthusiastic about its continuation than those who found it easy to use. It was concluded that future use of the system would contain a less ambitious range of conferences, and that teachers would be better trained to use the system and to help their students use it. A discussion of home computing and its implications for distance education is included, as well as a copy of the interview schedule. A list of 76 studies from the Centre for Information Technology in Education completes the report. (DB)