Blogs, wikis, etc. at school

An article in TechLearning.com refers to the new "Web where little is done in isolation." I think that's a symbol of a *world* "where little is done in isolation." Physical isolation sometimes, maybe, but today's teen social-networkers are showing us that even when they're alone in a room at a connected computer (cellphone, gameplayer, or video MP3 player), they do very little in isolation. Smart educators are using blogs, wikis, email, collaborative podcasting, etc. to help education keep up with students' lives. The article is by Will Richardson, supervisor of instructional technology at Hunterdon Central Regional High School in Flemington, New Jersey. He's summarizing his new book, Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms. The Poughkeepsie Journal reports on how K-6 students in different states use videoconferencing to share research and collaborate on writing projects. And a Penn State press release tells of how an adolescent psychology professor uses teen blogs and social-networking profiles as her "textbook" in students' study of adolescent behavior. There are now ed-tech companies offering blogging and videoconferencing services to schools, as well as a network of classrooms to connect with, e.g., a collaboration of ePals and Scholastic.