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. Keypals arrangements link individual students or one class to another to focus on a discussion topic or for exchange of cultural information.
Students compose scary stories or poems with remote coauthors or work together to solve a problem.
Online projects encourage students to collect, measure, evaluate, hypothesize, organize and report findings as teams. The Grocery List project has children all over the world comparing consumer prices. The Internet Scavenger Hunt is an example of a long-runnning project in which students get practice scouring the Net for information and compete for prizes. Real-time conference opportunities are plentiful. AOL, for instance, frequently features dialogue with authors and scientists online.