At least one instructor workstation and a plurality of student workstations are coupled to a communication network. A Microsoft server includes an SMTP mail server, a streaming media server, and a file transfer protocol (FTP) server. An ECS includes a chat server, a calls server, and an assessment server. The ECS is coupled. to the Microsoft server by a JAVA virtual machine. According to the presently preferred embodiment, the Microsoft server is also provided with a "SnapStream PVS Personal Video Station software plus Streaming Video Server", a central database, a proxy web server, an XML based Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) server and a filter. The Enterprise Communication Server is responsible routing commands and messages between clients. The FTP server is used as temporary storage and file transfer protocol for uploading/downloading files between clients. The SMTP server is used to retrieve e-mail messages between clients. The SOAP server "streams" to the clients the coordinates of the drawings drawn on an instructor's screen. The database server is a central data collector where all the clients store any relevant information in the database. The database server is also used for authentication purposes. The Windows Media server is used for receiving and streaming multimedia content from the PVS to the clients.