MySpacing Your Way to a College Education

For many, MySpace and Facebook are the things students do when they're not in class. Of course, with the advent of the wireless connectivity in the classroom, some students still spend time on MySpace when they should be listening to their chemistry professor.

I know this shocks you.

It apparently shocks some school administrators who have banned social networks because they waste precious classroom time. This month's Wired magazine, however, tells a different story of schools that are embracing socnets as tools for facilitating the learning process. Hey, if the kids are going to be spending all their time in MySpace anyway, why not integrate a little learning in there?

In these tech-savvy classes, student, tutors and researchers each get a profile page, blog, photosharing and friends lists through which they create online discussion communities. These constructs offer what some are calling "personal learning environments" where students, teachers and assistants work collaboratively to both learn and communicate across disciplines. Universities have found that students become far more engaged (there's that word again) in the learning process.

Think of it as a new-fashioned version of the old-fashioned study group. Just be careful that you don't get the guy in your group who freeloads off you and never does anything --

engagism