Teacher-monitored social-networking site engages students

The St. Petersburg Times (FL) reports: Moodle, a free educational social-networking site, lets students use familiar technology such as chatting, blogging and podcasting to practice foreign-language skills, to write for an audience and learn about other cultures. "At the beginning, when I was presented with the idea of this, I was scared," said fifth-grade teacher Kathy Mahoney. "Now it's like I cannot live without it."