Learning is rarely a lonely affair. That’s because at its best it’s a collaborative activity. Even the most original thinkers developed their theories against a backdrop of other thinking and theories. And as ICT is permeating all our communities - including developing countries like South Africa (p12) - it offers great opportunities for enriched learning and communication, which is at the heart of the TES Make The Link campaign (p29). This issue of Online looks at some of the stimulating work already underway in schools worldwide.

You only have to watch young people communicating out of school with services like MSN, Yahoo, AOL and now Google to get a glimpse of what is possible in and out of class. ICT cynics may shy from its inevitability but it’s already happening. Jack Kenny visited a high-tech school camp in the Lake District with outstanding Alaskan educator Mark Standley, and came away convinced of the emergence of those long-vaunted schools without walls.

Our exploration of using ICT for collaborative learning unearthed such a wealth of material that we have created a special website collection of features by top writers like Professor Stephen Heppell and George Cole. Go to www.tes.co.ukonline to find out more, a lot more!