Anne Smith, a language arts teacher at Arapahoe High School in Centennial, Colo., says her classroom motto is: "This is not education as usual."

Case in point: Language arts students typically read books by dead authors.

But Smith's ninth graders recently landed a live one, science fiction writer Cory Doctorow, to speak to their class in May on Skype.

The ninth grade students were going through a mock exercise to persuade school board members to add Doctorow's controversial 2008 book, Little Brother, to the reading list.

Karl Fisch, the school's technology director, said he thinks Little Brother is "controversial because of the topic of privacy versus security, although certainly the issue of teens having sex (once) and drug use (once or twice if you include alcohol) is one controversial aspect."

So what could be better than to have Doctorow himself speak to the class and explain why ninth graders should be able to able to read his book?

Smith said in this Skype video interview how impressed she was with students selecting Doctorow's book, seeking him out online and getting his OK to appear in class via Skype video.

Arapahoe students Ashley Schuett and Laura Olson told School Library Journal: "We were very surprised with the rapid response from Doctorow, who was extremely passionate about communicating and helping our group get Little Brother approved for the Littleton Public School's ninth-grade curriculum. Therefore, we have the same expectation for any writer/researcher/academic, etc., because they are trying to pass on their knowledge to others, so why not directly pass it on to us?"

The students said Skype enabled them to have "a more free-flowing conversation. Exchanging letters or emails and waiting days or perhaps weeks for a response slows down the process of learning."

So it was education at Internet speed.

Smith told the journal: "Imagine reading a piece of work in an English classroom where the author was still alive. The engagement that follows from actually being able to question an author's work, and examine purpose and intent is one not found in most traditional classrooms.

Skype is opening up the classroom to experts of all sorts.

For example, I recently reported on how former Sen. Bob Dole spoke about his World War II experiences to students in Sterling, Kan.

Fisch said Skype overcomes geography: the students were in Colorado, while Doctorow was in London.

He added the video technology with Skype and a webcam no longer is a barrier because it is inexpensive and easy to use:

"Skype has allowed us to do things we couldn't do before--without the technology."

In his Fischbowl blog, Fisch wrote: "I love the fact that these students knew a capability existed, assumed it was their prerogative to take advantage of that, and then took the initiative to contact Mr. Doctorow. If we not only enable our students to be connected learners, but also change their mindset so that they expect to be connected learners, we've done a good thing."