Radical schooling methods.

Given that two or three years of Internet time warp have passed since your short piece on School 2.0 was published ("Understanding the Times, January), what have you accumulated on this topic since its publication?

In the article, you connected with a project that I currently have underway when you wrote: "Why does every fourth grade math class need to be taught by the resident fourth grade teacher? Virtually free storage, plus high speed communications, plus Web 2.0 technologies make it possible for master teachers to work with many apprentice teachers to teach many more students more effectively."

I've spent two years making heavy use of Centra and am now starting to use Elluminate to glue together communities of computer screens and interactive whiteboards. For the past two semesters, I taught every minute of every university class simultaneously in an actual classroom and to students scattered across western North Carolina, and I have proof it works just as well to the opposite side of the world in Hong Kong. I've reached a number of radical conclusions through this work.

Whenever educators see a need to improve a situation, leadership brings additional brains to bear. Educators almost always make their collaboration the king of "unsticking the stuck." Evolving computer networks and applications support the master-apprentice model. But on a more radical note, we have the network beam of light heralding the end of teaching in isolation--a fundamental characteristic of my thirty-year career in the classroom. This is the beginning of a revolution that will top out the Richter scale of educational change.

Bob Houghton, associate professor, College of Education and Allied Professions, Western Carolina University, Cullowhee, N.C.