Scientific visualization is becoming an important part of the curriculum in a number of disciplines. It is a very practical subject, but the commercially available visualization software systems are not easy to learn. Thus we have explored the use of novel technology to help us in teaching students to use IRIS Explorer - this includes on-line tutorials, shared sessions involving teacher and student over a network, and the use of WWW. This work, which has been stimulated by teaching applications, has also motivated research into the wider area of collaborative visualization.