IM in the classroom
Although I’m usually all for using any sort of technology in the classroom, I can see little reason to use Instant Messaging. The point of IM is to communicate over a distance with someone who may or may not be currently available. The classroom is the least effective place to use IM, students can see each other and therefore communicate whatever they need in person. The only reasons they would need to use IM in the classroom would include keeping a conversation secret from the teacher, saying something they wouldn’t say in person, or simply as a distraction to keep themselves entertained.
That’s not to say that IM has no place in _education_ simply because it has no place in the classroom. Students use IM to stay in touch with their friends outside of school because they can no longer see each other. They may use IM to discuss homework, or they may put IM to some other academic use, but I don’t see it as useful for teachers to try to require it from students. The best we can do is train our students and seed them with the ideas that these technologies _could_ serve an academic purpose, if they chose to use them in that fashion. At some point, they might need or want it, and they’ll be prepared.
