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The Google Wave chatting tool is too complicated for its own good.

Chatting on Wave is like talking to an overcurious mind reader.

This behavior is so corrosive to normal conversation that you'd think it was some kind of bug. In fact, it's a feature—indeed, it's one of the Wave team's proudest accomplishments.

Abilene Christian University says handing out iPhones to its entire first-year class in 2008 has improved interaction between students and faculty members.

Does positive feeling mean better teaching and learning? Mr. Schubert adds that it's too early to collect enough data to understand how giving out iPhones improves education. Student testimonials in the report, however, highlight easier access to professors. One savvy student says having an iPhone means he's less confused in class. "My professor will ask a question about something and I don't know what it is, but right here on my phone, with just one touch, I have Dictionary.com, I have a Wikipedia app—I can look it up," said Tyler Sutphen, a marketing major. "I know what they're talking about, because it's right there."

According to Gloucestershire College, in England, Facebook and other social-networking Web sites can do more than provide a platform for vacation photos, favorite quotes, and status updates; they can help reduce dropout rates, the BBC reports.The media-curriculum manager at the college, Perry Perrott, says that with the advent of social media, students have been better at keeping in touch with faculty members, which has lead to a “significant improvement in retention.”After seeing how popular social-networking sites were with students, Mr. Perry says the college decided to embrace the technology as a cost-free way to further engage the campus.