NASA Digital Learning Network

I just returned from the United States Distance Learning Association conference where Sam Slike (Education of the Deaf/Hard of Hearing Program) and I received an award. We had the opportunity to meet some wonderful people. One of them was Greg Pitzer, NASA Digital Learning Network, Ames Research Center.

The NASA Digital Learning Network provides free interactive programs to teachers and students. These programs are numerous. The catalog can be found on the DLN web site (http://dln.nasa.gov/dln/).

Experience out-of-this-world interactive learning with NASA's Digital Learning Network™!

Free, interactive programs allow you and your students to learn more about our home planet and to journey into space using video-conferencing and Web casts. Students of all ages are able to speak directly with NASA personnel including scientists, engineers, astronauts, and education specialists. Placing an emphasis on STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics), the DLN offers a wide variety of distance learning events designed to educate through demonstrations and real time interactions with experts. All programs are aligned to national standards with pre- and post-activities to enhance your video conference and Web cast experiences. Join NASA's DLN as we go back to the Moon, onto Mars, and beyond.

The programs are delivered from any one of the ten NASA centers across the country.

Congrats on your award Pam, I know you deserve it! It's incredible how NASA Digital Learning Network provides free interactive programs to teachers and students. I believe that utilizing video-conferencing and Web casts as means of providing interactive programs to teachers and students can prove to be very beneficial educationally. What seems to be more remarkable is that students are able to communicate directly with NASA personnel thereby allowing them to receive expert feedback to various questions. There is only so much you can learn from a professor in the classroom, sometimes you need input from someone with practical experience. The specific fields which NASA has targeted (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) are very interesting since these are the fields in which the performance of American students has been criticized.