Response to Damon's presentation:

I found the visit from Damon into our elive classroom to be fun and interesting. It really made me stop and try to visualize life in the bush and in rural Alaska. As I listened to him talk and looked at his list of technologies and ideas I realized that these students have obstacles to overcome in terms of distance, but they also have a lot of advantages in variety, new technology, and specialized presentations. It really is a whole new way of looking at education.

I like the idea of an open system and open source and the use of DART in which parents and teachers can communicate, as well as an open content wiki. I think this may be a tool that is useful not just for long distance, but in the classroom such as with EAL students. It may serve as a way to help the parent help their child with homework, and in finding ways to communicate so that the child can stay on top of his learning. I guess I'm thinking it may be a way to help close the culture gap between home and school, so that the student receives more effective learning. I would have to investigate exactly how that might work.

Overall I found his talk to be interesting and informative. I just wonder what types of training there is in the ASD in terms of implementing new technology into the classroom.