Students who communicate more on line earn better grades -- and exclude others?

We had a great conversation yesterday in our PLC about whether or not digital tools are "rewiring our brains" in a bad way.

Then, today I learned of an interesting study that suggests that a higher rate of online communication leads to better grades (in a college setting).

However, there's a darker side to this: when students were left on their own to communicate digitally, the higher-achieving students formed 'elite' social circles and actively shut out the lower-achieving kids.

Which to me, suggests that we need to be careful as teachers.

So, how should we structure assignments, activities, and our classes to increase communication, but decrease exclusivity?

Here's the article, from Science Daily:

Working alone won't get you good grades

Posted: 31 Jan 2013 11:44 AM PST

Students who work together and interact online are more likely to be successful in their college classes, according to a new study.

Plus, there's a cool graph of student connections -- higher-achieving students are blue; thicker line connections suggest repeated communication.