A new Netday "Speak Up" survey by Dell and Bell South suggests that while teachers are increasingly using email to communicate to students, students are increasingly abandoning email for instant messaging (including cell phone SMS).

"Students have told us that eMail is still valuable--mainly for storing and transmitting documents and for communication with adults," said Julie Evans, chief executive officer of the nonprofit group NetDay. "IM is more valuable to them because it is instant, and they can speak with multiple people at the same time. I believe that this highlights a greater sophistication in student tech use--and a trend for us to watch."

In addition to instant messaging, students are more likely to use social networking tools like MySpace and Facebook to support their communication habits. "At least 50 percent of students, by the 12th grade, have some sort of personal, MySpace-like web site," she said. "This generation of learners seeks community online."