As a matter of cultural relevance, Germany - like other European nations - runs schools in foreign countries which offer school qualification for German, European and local students. To ensure a broad supply of subjects and graduation, Germany has begun to implement virtual schooling for locations with a smaller number of students in 2008. The main idea of this concept is to share classroom activities in one classroom via videoconferencing and interactive whiteboard systems with a group of students of the same Grade in another place in another country. This paper presents first findings of a pilot study which evaluates this attempt with qualitative and quantitative methods. The research focus is on the shifts of learning in such distance education scenarios. The basis for the presented paper covers as well the description of first experiences in participating schools as well as academic analysis on the basis of corresponding aspects of research in the field of virtual schooling , e. g. students’ motivation, the relevance of cultural differences between the locations and the balance between teacher- and learner-centred instruction .