Learning while surfing in class - Possible?

I've been surfing the Net (no surprise there) looking for new ideas - either for my personal perusal, or for possible sharing purposes in my next training conducts. and in my aimless wandering -I stumbled upon another blog that I would like to try to monitor from now on - why so?

http://weblogg-ed.com/2008/reading-to-find-rip-mix-classrooms/

The above site by Will Richardson touches on a few training or education topics - and though the subject is more geared towards high school, it still can be applied to any learning environment... including corporate training... after all, don't we sometimes act like children? ;-)

How did I find Will's blog? I found it at another article... one about Facebook being used for learning... and since I've been an advocate for using Facebook - color me curious, but I had to check the article out. You can too... by copy-[asting this site address:
http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9122241&taxonomyId=16&source=NLT_NET&nlid=27

Apparently, there is a name for what I was doing when I stumbled upon this site - and its not just 'surfing' the Net either... well, it is, but there's another - you might say, more specific name. "Rip-Mix" Huh? Never heard ot it? Okay, here's a description of Rip-Mix - its when you transfer from site to site by clicking on certain inetresting topics or sub-topics... all because I was interested in certain context. Call it a speed- comprehending (just like speed-reading) style, wehrein by hoping form topic to topic, I eventually read and absorb enough ideas to understand the big picture discussion without having to read each and every... well, in this case, entry.

I hop from idea to idea - from argument to argument - from site to site - from writer to writer - from viewpoint to viewpoint, and in that manner, form an opinion of what I'm reading. It may not be the most systematic, nor may it be the more efficient manner - but it lets me read by way of following my interests.

I won't reccomend this in reading books - though I may readily sugest it as a form of surfing the Net... in fact, its how I've always been 'attacking' the internet and it myriad sites... even when doing research for just about anything. Sure I start out with a Google search, then I work my way from article to article - until I start getting carried away 'wherever the web takes me'. But that's not all... the author then takes the idea to the possible next level - Rip-Mix workshops, which mean we could have virtual workshops as we all search and share what we read or learn about... forming a sort of community of learning for a particular subject matter.

Rip-Mix... a not-so-new idea. But now its got a name... and possibilities. If only schools would catch up to this idea.