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This study explores remote, non‐collocated collaboration via multi‐touch table (SynergyNet) and video conferencing software (Skype). Twenty‐four participants (aged 10‐11 years) in two locations—primary school classrooms located 300 miles apart in the UK—engaged in simultaneous collaborative activity to solve a History mystery task. Audio‐video data recorded in the first minute of the activity were analysed to explore the emergence of collaborative working practices both within groups in the same location (resizing for shared reading) and between the groups communicating via video conferencing software and through the “flick” multi‐touch gesture (sharing clues between groups). The results indicated that most groups focused first on the establishment of intra‐group collaboration before reaching out to their remotely located partners. However, when the second data set was analysed, audio data from …