First off, congratulations to Troy Jessup for joining the blogging community. Check out Bloggin' with Troy Jessup to read about his security views.

Today's question: What is the value of Distance Education?

It was March 2000 when I took my first UEN road trip. Ed Ridges, Laura Hunter and I spent three days in Southeast Utah visiting the local district offices and schools.

Our first stop was the San Juan School District offices in Blanding, Utah. Blanding is at least a five hour drive from my office in Salt Lake City. San Juan County is as big or bigger than a few of the smaller states, and certainly more difficult to get around in. This is a place that prides itself on the fact that up until a short while ago there weren't any traffic lights in the County. I think they now have one in Monticello. It's a very remote place.

That day I met Virgle Ellis and JL Thornton. What great people. Also, both are very competent technically. One interesting thing about rural Utah. The technical level is surprisingly high. What happens is that a lot of rural kids, raised with great work ethics, go away to college and do very well. They take jobs in big cities, but when children come along these rural Utahns want to return home.

Jobs aren't plentiful. School Districts, Government agencies and small businesses benefit from these educated people that are willing to work for less money and prestige just to live in small town America.

We had planned in advance to visit several schools in the San Juan "area". Our first stop was a two hour drive south to Monument Valley. What an incredible and different experience.

The school is built on a Navajo Reservation in the extreme southeast corner of Utah. All of the students and some of the faculty are Navajo. Those non-Navajo teachers are restricted from purchasing any housing on the reservation. The district has built apartments adjacent to the school to accommodate those who don't want to or can't arrange for living quarters elsewhere.

The librarian was also the technical support person. We spent about an hour talking with him to get a feeling for what was happening at the school. He showed us how the students made good use of the distance learning and Internet facilities provided by UEN.

He told us about some after school activities. The school had applied for and received a 21st Century grant to open the school after hours. The purpose was to make technology available to the students and their parents.

Navajo parents and students take after hours classes over the Ednet system. These parents surf the web with their children. This is amazing. People living in remote locations, often in houses without electricity, are using modern technology provided by the district and UEN. There is just no other way that this is going to happen.

One other interesting thing that we were told. These people are using the Internet to help document and preserve their heritage. That's really cool.

We visited several other schools that day. Every experience was unique and insightful. I thoroughly enjoyed these opportunities and the ability to make some new friends. It gave me a better appreciation for the services we provide. I understood that by our efforts many lives are impacted in a positive way. You can't get that kind of satisfaction peddling credit cards.

That's all for now.....
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