Thousands of students are connecting globally, actively involved in enriching experiences online. They are exchanging information about culture and collaborating on projects, across geographic and time barriers. Informal, personal exchanges can be lots of fun. Connect your children with them. With teenagers, linking opposite sexes is an interest-building strategy.
Online services provide chat areas for students to meet each other.
Teachers will want to link the online experience with an already-established curricular goal. Consider linking your class with another class reading the same novel, and compare student reaction. You don't have to invent the project yourself. This year's Jason Project connects students with scientists investigating life at the edge of the sea. A unit on plants may be improved if children could ask questions of a parent gardener or botanist.